Where It All Begins
by Emily 'Gadget' Robins
Summary: When Gadget joins the Task Force 141 they quickly learn things aren't the same there as they were with the Rangers. When her first mission is a week long trip to Russia she befriends her comrads and proves herself a worthy soldier. Rated for safety. R&R 1
1. Corporal Robins

Where It All Begins

Modern Warfare 2

By: Emily 'Gadget' Robins

My name is Corporal Emily Robins. You can call me Robins or 'Gadget', depending on whether you're a ranger from my old team or a member of the 141. This is my first day at the 141 base.

I have to say it's pretty different than working with the Rangers. There it was all 'Rangers lead the way' and the oath and your honor and your country. You snap off salutes and you give your Co's your number and you go into the field and you hope to God you don't die.

Here it's organized and everything is a MUST COMPLETE mission. The training is harder and the missions…well I don't really know about the missions yet. Right now I'm just unpacking in my room.

It's a nice base too. It's got electricity and everything. Running water is always an added plus.

Anyways I'm getting off track already. You probably don't want to hear my every narrated thought on every little thing that goes on here. So I'll cut the crap and give it to you straight.

I'm barely old enough to drink and basically your every-day-sob-story. My mom died when I was two and my dad ditched me and my older brother. When he and I were adopted life seemed to turn around until he enlisted in the army when he was still in high-school. Our step-mom kicked us out and he's been caring for me since. One day he was shipped home after having his left leg blown off.

Before you roll your eyes and go find a better story to read, lemme finish.

Now I'm here. On the 'prima donna squad' as my old friend would call it. Today is my first day and of course, there's new Co's to impress and new comrade's to be teased by. Honestly, as I stand here un-packing my bag, I couldn't be more excited.

"Hey new guy, are you ready to—"

I turn around to see a tall, muscular fellow standing in my door frame. He seems surprised to see me. "Yes?"

He blinks a few times in surprise and says, "Uh… are you Corporal Robins?"

"That's me." I extend a hand and he shakes it quickly. "Call me Gadget. And you are?"

"Royce is fine." He smirks a bit. "Now I knowMactavish was trying to surprise me. He never even mentioned we had a lady in the house."

I roll my eyes, grabbing my gear off the floor. "Now, aren't you the charming one." I note sarcastically.

"Sorry, I'm just a little shocked is all."

I shrug on my thick coat and supply vest. "Get used to it." I lace up my combat boots. "So, where am I needed first?"

"The Captain wants you in the briefing room right away. Says he needs to explain how things work."

"Thanks Royce. Are you gonna carry me or do I have to walk?"

He laughs heartily. "No, I have to go. It's been nice meeting you Gadget."

"You too Royce," I call over my shoulder as I walk down the hallway towards the briefing room. I met Mactavish before and he seems like a great guy. He also seems to be a strong leader and protective of his troops.

I tug my beige face scarf over my mouth and nose and pull my helmet on (even though my short pony tail sticks out in the back). I put my goggles in place and push the door open to the briefing room.

Two men are bent over a table, looking at charts and maps and whatever other parophanalia they have. I recognize one as Mactavish. The other is a rather tall man with sharp blue eyes. "Royce sent me down, sir." I explain, snapping off a stiff salute.

"A new recruit," The un-named tall guy asks. "Where'd Shepard find you?"

I realize he probably hasn't even noticed I'm a woman so I decide to surprise him. I keep my voice a little too quiet and a little too low to distinguish as a girl's. "The rangers… he said I was one of the best troops to come through there."

"Anyways," Mactavish tries to steer the conversation away from what we were talking about and back to the maps. "Have your men practice the course a few more times, Scarecrow, and get them to the shooting range. We NEED accuracy."

"Sure thing," Scarecrow nodded and headed out the door. "Send the recruit down when you're ready."

Mactavish nods and starts gathering the maps. "You're Corporal Emily Robins, aye?"

"Yes, sir, but please call me Gadget."

"It said in your file that you specialize in computer hacking, snipers, UMP45's, and combat knives." Mactavish looks up at me expectantly. I nod, not really sure what to say. "Are you ready to get started?"

"Always, sir."

"Good. It's time for you to meet your training officer. Then we'll see what you're made of."

As it turns out, my training officer is a lieutenant that has dubbed himself 'Ghost' and wears a mask and tinted sunglasses. You can not see ANY part of his face. "Grab what gun you want and get down to the shooting range. You'll meet the rest of the team and then we can start training."

I nod silently and turn to leave.

"Oh, and Gadget?" I look at him over my shoulder. "Welcome to the team."

I smile and keep walking. I grab a UMP45 off of the crate next to me and slam on a red dot sight. It feels good to have the gun back in my hands.

When I get down to the range there are seven or eight guys there, waiting. I recognize Royce and Scarecrow immediately. The others are all talking or working on their guns. Scarecrow spots me and waves me over.

"Okay, listen new guy; this is basically where you make a name for yourself. Don't screw it up."

I know I won't but I feign nervousness. This is gonna be even more fun than I thought.

Ghost appears out of nowhere, nearly giving me a heart attack, and gestures at the range. "Shall we?"

The range is much like one at the Rangers base, but with more targets that move quicker and spew paintballs at you all at once.

I take down the first and second sets with no problem. The third set I miss a few times because my goggles are covered in paint splatters, but no biggy.

I look to Ghost and the others when I finish. "Not bad." Ghost smirks. "I have to say, the Rangers beat you into shape well."

I pull my goggles up and let them rest on my helmet then pull my scarf down so I can talk clearly. "Thanks. Ya know I was shooting blind there for a second..." I notice one of the guys look like he's in shock. "You okay big guy?"

He shakes his head, apparently trying to clear it. "Yeah…I just wasn't expecting the new recruit to be a nice mamasita. The name's Meat."

"Gadget…" I pause shaking his hand. "You call me mamasita one more time and I'll castrate you with a garden weasel."

And thus begins my odd friendships with my team.

If you're not really interested in me and want to just skip to the action, go from here to the magical 'rock on character'. If you wanna hear more about the guys (trust me it's worth it in the end) then READ ON!

Mactavish and I have a pretty level understanding. I'm just another one of his men. Most of the time that would mean that I still had to snap off salutes and call him 'sir' constantly, but in Mactavish's case it means I might as well be one of his old friends considering how he treats us all as if we were his family. I trust the man with my life.

Meat and I seem to clash a bit. He's always pestering me about something. He has also refuses to call me by my callsign and instead refers to me as 'woman'. Nothing else. Just 'woman'. When he first came up with it he yelled, "Bring me my gun, woman!", and ever since it's the same thing. I'm gonna beat him senseless one day.

Scarecrow and I get along pretty well. Mostly it's just war talk, never personal, never more than the bare minimum. I'm fine with that as long as he has nothing against me.

Worm, Toad, and I are pretty much best friends already. To me they're just Worm and Toad, and to them I'm just Gadget. That's the way I like it. We joke around and pull pranks and get into the occasional play argument but we don't try to be closer than friends. We all steer clear of family talk, the same as scarecrow, but we still talk about friends. Like Toad will gush over his girlfriend sometimes and Worm and I will yell at him to shut the cuss up or we'll skin him.

Archer and I don't talk much. He's quiet and serious, but he's an amazing sniper and a good man to have on the team.

Ghost and I clicked the second we started talking. He's the only one I really talk to about my brother (I'll get to that later) and the one I trust most…maybe even more than Mactavish. He's a good leader like the Captain but won't take crap from anyone. I've never seen his face and I've never heard him talk about things other than the war, but I know that he's a great guy. I try my best to stay on his good side because, let's face it; he's intimidating as anyone to ever walk the earth. But hey, we get along and he's a good card player too.

Shepard. I'm not even going to add the 'and I' part because there's none of that. It's just Shepard, we have no relationship. I don't trust him what-so-ever. Maybe it's the fact that he doesn't give a rat's rear about any of us. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me or any of the other men. It's a permanent look of this never-ending indifference that just ticks me off. I made the mistake of mentioning it to Mactavish one day. He said that indifference was the way Shepard dealt with the war. He made no attachments and no friendships so in the end he lost nothing. I hate that man for it.

\m/(-.-)\m/

Thank you to those of you who endure/enjoyed my spiel.

Anyways, now I'm packing to go on a mission. I've been here one day and already they're sending me to Russia with Archer, Mactavish, Ghost, and Meat to escort some British movie star through a danger zone. I have just one quick question, 'Who's idea was this and where is their head so I can hit it with a hammer?'

I stuff an extra pair of gloves into the bag. Meat pokes his head into my room. "Don't forget your tampons, woman."

I roll my eyes. "Go harass your mom for once Meat, I'm sure you miss her."

"Told you she was cheeky, Ghost."

"She sure is. At least the mission will be a little more interesting with an FNG around." Ghost was suddenly leaning in my doorway. Did I mention he just appears whenever and wherever he wants?

"Give me a heart attack why don't you?" I grumble, zipping up my coat. "You guys know the General doesn't want you in my room. Out."

"Is that any way to talk to your superior?" Meat asks.

"Fine then... My apologies Ghost; Meat, get out, now." I point to the door.

"What—but I—"

"Nope! I'm Corporal, you aren't. OUT!" I go over to him and try to push him out the doorway. "I **will** go find a garden weasel!"

I almost fall flat on my face when he runs out of there. Ghost manages to catch me by the back of my coat.

"I love the way you handle him." He laughs, his accent thick.

I straighten up and dust off. "Thanks, is he always like that?"

"Usually worse."

"What a fun camping trip THIS will be."

**Hey Hey!**

**It's me, Gadget. **

**For those of you who are wondering, this is during the five years between MW 1 & 2. Think of it as MW 1.5, special edition…**

**Yes this is going to be a pretty fun week for me and the guys and yes, there will be some pranks and nonsense along with a serious lesson to be learned…haha jk it's just gonna be a week of lovely retardation.**

**This is the first story I've appeared in but you'll hear from me a lot. **

**Other stories you might wanna check out are:**

**Allen's Choice**** (by me)**

**And pretty much anything by Erin Peepsta.**

**And now I leave you with this notice:**

***REVIEW! It helps my brain juice recuperate!***


	2. There's the eyebrow again

Morning 1

Breakfast and British Stars Who Hit On Their Bodygaurds

I yawn, stretching my arms over my head.

"Ya tired?" Ghost asks appearing next to me.

I nod. "I was up late last night. I had to call home and let my brother know I was here."

"Ah," He grins widely. "I shoulda known to peg you as a family kind of person."

"Actually you shouldn't have. My brother's the only one back home who's ever really cared about me."

Ghost seems surprised. At least his eyebrow seems surprised. I can't see anything other than that, a pair of sunglasses, and a grinning skull mask.

"What? My mom died when I was two, who knows where my dad is, and my adoptive mom kicked me and my brother out when he joined the army."

"Hmmm…" Ghost leans against the counter. Oh, yeah, sorry. I forgot to tell you we were in the kitchen. I'm making breakfast to surprise the guys and Ghost is here pestering me to make pancakes. "I never would've guessed that. You seem so happy."

"I am happy." I laugh, cracking an egg over the griddle. "I've come to terms with what happened and shrugged off all the bad things."

We sit in silence for a moment, me working on making sunny side up eggs and Ghost playing with a kitchen knife. "So what about your brother; is he a good soldier?"

"He was." There's the eyebrow again. "He got his leg blown off a few years back. Came home and got me through highschool. He's all the real family I've ever had."

Ghost's mask gets a little smile crease in it.

"What?" I ask, quickly wiping my face (knowing me it was because I had something on it).

"And boyfriends?"

My face gets hot around my cheeks and I look away quickly. "Shouldn't you be poking your nose into someone else's buisness?"

Ghost busts into laughter and turns to leave. "Okay, well I'll just go and tell Meat you're making breakfast."

My eyes widen. "No Ghost don—"

And he's off like a rocket. Not even three minutes later seven 'starving' soldiers are in the kitchen annoying me for food.

"Whatever Ghost told you is a lie. I'm not done cooking yet." I tell them.

"But GAAAADGETT we're hungryyyyy." Toad whines jokingly. I childishly stick my tongue out at him.

"The pancakes are ready when they're ready. Until then you guys will have to chill out."

Now Royce joins in. "Are they done yet?"

"No."

Three second silence.

"How 'bout now?"

"Royce, I will get a garden weasel. Don't test me." I surpress a giggle as best I can.

He makes a pouting face. "You're in a bad mood today."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"I am not!"

"You both are." Meat shrugs. "You're both whining more than Worm."

"I resent that." Worm chimes in, climbing up onto the fridge.

"Who cares?" Toad calls up to him.

"I do."

Scarecrow comes over to where I'm flipping the pancakes. "I didn't know you could cook, Corporal."

I nod, "My step mom taught me how to make pancakes from scratch when I was ten."

"Sweeet," Meat rubs his hands together. "Pancakes from scratch are WAYYY better than those boxed ones."

"I, for one, like the boxed ones."

We all keep the conversations flowing and it feels like I belong here. I've never really fit in anywhere quite right. At school I had close friends and everyone liked having me around, but there was always that pity they had in their eyes. They all knew about my mom dying, and my dad leaving, and my step mom kicking me out, and my handicapped brother. There was always that seceret distance between me and my peers. Here, the only one who knew was Ghost and maybe Mactavish if he read my whole file. Ghost didn't seem to be judging me for it and Mactavish never asked.

I look up at Worm on the fridge. "Great; worms in my kitchen."

He sticks his tongue out. "Your kitchen? You've only been here like 12 hours."

Mactavish walks in, looking around at all of us. "What's going on here?"

"Breakfast," I answer, putting an egg and two pancakes on a plate. "Captains first," I hand it to him, "Eat up."

He smiles and says a quick thank you before going to sit down at the table. I hand Archer a plate next, since he's the only one who hasn't annoyed me yet. He smiles kindly and joins the captain. Then I give everyone else a plate.

I smile, watching everyone devour breakfast at the table, then turn back to the griddle to find Ghost standing there. I have another mini heart attack. "What the cuss man? That's twice in one morning."

He smirks (at least it seems like he is) and pats my head. "There, there young one; you'll get used to it."

"Hey, I'm an adult!"

He ignores my angered expression. "Do I get breakfast?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you're clearly trying to kill me and we can't have that around here."

Ghost's eyebrow rises again and I decide I officially hate that that's the only way I know what he's feeling. "So you want to go on the mission without me?" His voice sounds hurt.

I sigh, "No. Here." I give him a plate. "Go sit with your buddies."

He accepts the plate and goes to sit down with the others. I grab my own food and stand at the counter to eat since there aren't any chairs left.

"So, it's Gadget's first mission today?" Toad asks, munching on a slice of bacon that I wonder where he found (I didn't make any).

"Aye," Mactavish nods. "It's a week long one too. She'll have plenty of time to get used to the cold."

There are a few snickers around the table. "That sounds fun." Worm smirks with his mouth full. "Meat's gonna have a field day."

"You know it. An FNG up in the mountains along for a week long mission; this is gonna be hilarious."

"I love how you guys can just talk about her likes she's not here." Archer adds, talking for the first time.

I nod in agreement. "Yeah guys, lighten up. Besides Meat, you know I've got game. I can play pranks too."

"All you have is a non-existant garden weasel, woman. You got nothin' on me." Meat laughs.

I chuckle darkly. "You have no idea Meat. No idea."

~~~~~~~6 hours later~~~~~~~~

"Are we there yet?" Meat grumbles for the thousandth time.

"No." Mactavish shakes his head and goes back to looking over a file. I turn back to my book, trying to focus on the words.

In my mind I'm trying to imagine what this whole thing is going to be like. The captain and Shepard both assured me it's going to be flawless and smooth, just a camping trip in the mountains. But I can't shake this feeling that something's off.

"Are we—"

"No."

I glance at Meat and Mactavish. Meat is half-cleaning his gun half-daydreaming. He looks bored out of his mind. Mactavish has given up on the file and stands up to go talk to the pilot. Ghost is…I think he's asleep…

"Psst…Psst…Meat…hey Meat…" I whisper/hiss to him. He doesn't look up…so I chuck my book at him and hit him square in the shoulder.

"Ow, heeyyy what the—"

"Is Ghost asleep?" I interupt.

Meat looks over at Ghost. He's slumped over with his chin resting on his chest. He's holding his copy of whatever files Mactavish had in his lap. "I dunno. Looks like it."

"Go check."

"Are you insane?"

"Yes?" I make it sound like a question to confuse him. He rolls his eyes and goes back to gun cleaning. "What?" I tilt my head innocently. "Scared he'll bite you?"

He sighs and chucks my book back at me. I catch it with my left hand and leaf through it with my right. Now that Meat's shut his trap I can think clearly enough to read.

'_He was dead weight. There was no twitching or flopping. Kiowa, who saw it, said it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something-just boom, then down-not like the movies where the dead guy rolls all around and does fancy spins and goes—*'_

"Are we there yet?"

I swear under my breath.

Mactavish, who apperantly came back in while I was reading, glares at him; "No."

"We'll be there when the helicopter goes down." I point out. "Take a nap or something if you're so bored."

"I'll sleep when I'm dead, woman."

"Feeling tired, because I can arrange that."

Meat grumbles a little before pulling out a pen and notepad.

I try to read again. '_And goes rear over teakettle-not like that. Kiowa said the poor guy just flat out fell .Boom. Down. Nothing else. It was a bright morning in mid-april. Lieutant Cross felt the—*"_

The chopper lurches violently and I lose my balance, slipping right out of the seat and landing flat on my back on the hard metal floor. I groan and force myself into a sitting position. The stupid thing swerves to the right suddenly and Ghost ends up on the floor too. Apparently he was sleeping because the first thing he says is, "Are we there yet?"

I facepalm. "No. For glory sakes alive we are not there yet."

Ghost looks around (at least I think he does). "Why are you on the floor?"

"Why are_** you **_on the floor?"

He chuckles. "That was my next question."

"Pick yourselves up you two. Pilot says we're getting ready to land." Mactavish orders. I think I hear a little bit of a laugh, but I ignore it.

Dusting myself off I snatch my UMP45, my glock, and my bag and stuff my book into the side pocket. The moment the heli lands we're all hopping out, even with the blades still going.

There's one thing I just gotta say. "Jesus, it's cold." I shiver, taking my first breath of Russian air. It's flat out cold and snowy and windy… and cold. A huge storm is brewing up RIGHT over our campsite for tonight. 'A week of this is gonna kill me.' I think and rub my arms to keep warm.

"Get used to it, woman. Were campin' out a few miles north of here tonight." Meat laughs, nudging my shoulder playfully.

"Grreaaaat." I laugh along with him and follow Ghost and the captain towards a small goup of people next to a little building. I notice that two of them have guns and I absentmindedly finger my UMP.

"Nice to see you captain." A British accented voice calls out as we get closer. The door swings open and a handsome man in his mid-twenties is standing there. "I was getting worried about you and your team with this bloddy storm coming in."

"You picked a great week for travel, Hawking." Mactavish shouts over the powerful wind.

The brit laughs. "Yes, my producer pointed out the same thing. Come in, there's no need for you to freeze to death out there." We file into the little room and the two gaurds from outside follow. "Ah, I see you have brought team mates captain. I believe we're in need of introductions."

"This is Ghost, my second in comand."

Ghost extends his hand and Hawkings takes it in a firm shake. "Good to see our star is in one piece for transport." The latter laughs at this and grins.

"Meat's our rifleman for the trip."

Meat holds out his own hand. "I'm just kinda the go-to-guy."

"And Gadget is here to help keep the radars in check and is also sniper support."

I remove my goggles and pull my scarf down away from my mouth. "Nice to meet you, Hawkings." I hold out my own hand to shake. Hawkings takes it and kisses it gently. I feel my face go red and I avert my eyes. So much for laying low and not drawing any attention.

"You may call me Steven, miss." He flashes a smile, not letting go of my hand. "It's an immense pleasure."

"I…I uh…" I look to Mactavish for help. He seems to find this all too funny to direct the attention away from me. I glance at Ghost desperately, but he seems to be staring at the bookcase with immense interest. I know Meat's enjoying this too much to say anything so I just go with the first thing that comes out of my mouth. "Let's get going, shall we?"

"Ah, yes. We should pack up the snow mobiles and get to camp before dark now shouldn't we?"

I nod enthusiastically, pulling my hand away and stuffing it into my pocket. My first mission and already I've got more dirt on me that Meat can hold over my head than a garden weasel can handle.

The moment Hawkings turns his back Meat playfully elbows my ribs and wiggles his eyebrows. I hold my fingers like scissors and make a snipping motion. He gets the message and gets quiet real quick.

After another half hour and six embarrassing events later the snow mobiles are prepped and our team is ready to move out. Hawkings is on one with Mactavish, Meat is on the one with the cargo, and that would put me squarely behind Ghost on the last one. Normally I wouldn't mind, but Ghost drives like a MANIAC! He constantly swerves around and goes like 90 miles-an-hour. I cling to his back for dear life and squeeze my eyes shut. Dear God, I'm gonna die.

Ghost shouts something, but I can't hear him over the wind. "What?"

"I said, I can't breathe when you have me in a death grip like that." He repeats.

"Sorry, I'm just trying not to get killed by your manic driving."

"What?"

"I said, I'm trying not to get killed by your manic driving?"

"You want me to go faster?"

"What? NO!"

"Okay," Ghost laughs, throwing us into full throttle.

I gasp and hold on even tighter, "Ghost! Not funny!"

He's still laughing as we pass up the others. I look over my shoulder to see Meat punching his own gas into high gear and gaining on us.

"GHOST!" I yell again. He glances over his shoulder at me and his glasses slip a little. His watery blue eyes sparkle a little. I can tell he's smiling.

"Just loosen your grip and enjoy it a little."

I slowly ease up on my 'death grip' and look around. The snow is still falling around scattered trees and leafeless bushes, landing delicately on the branches. I bet it'd be pretty if it weren't all blurred together and flying by before I can even figure out what a lot of it is.

I have to admit, this is kinda fun.

Well, at least it is until Ghost swerves again and I fly out of the seat.

**Hehehe.**

**And I leave you guys with me getting thrown off a snowmobile. I appologize if this story is not actiony enough, I'm still trying to develop the character.**

**Oh and the passages I was reading on the plane are taken from Tim O'brein's 'The Things They Carried'. They were slightly edited for language.**

_**Other stories to check out:**_

_**Allen's Choice (By me)**_

**And a quick message before I go:**

***REVIEWS ARE GOOD FOR MY SOUL!***


	3. Just a flesh wound

Night 1—Day 2

Let the Camping Trip Begin and where's A Smoke When You Need It Most?

**{Locating Lt. Simon 'Ghost' Riley}**

**[Shifting to Ghost's POV]**

_**WARNING: Minor to Moderate violence in this chapter. It's Call of Duty for goodness sakes!**_

"I said, I can't breathe when you have me in a death grip like that." I repeat, yelling a little louder. Gadget is clinging to me with all her might. It would be kinda funny to see her so scared if I could breathe a little.

She yells something back, but it's lost to the blowing wind and snow.

"What?"

"I said, I'm trying not to get killed by your manic driving!"

I roll my eyes, even though I know she can't see me. Then I get an idea. "You want me to go faster?"

"What? NO!"

"Okay!" I step on the gas, flooring it.

Gadget squeaks a little and clings to me even tighter. "Ghost! Not funny!"

I laugh now, passing the others up quickly. Meat spots us and laughs too, speeding up to match us.

"GHOST!" Gadget yells. I look back at her, into her soft brown eyes. I smile at her freaked out expression.

"Just loosen your grip and enjoy it a little."

She eases up a little and I take a fresh breath of air. I glance around at the scenery to make sure we're not going to hit anything before slowing up a little.

I have to admit, freaking Gadget out is kinda fun.

That is until I spot a rock and try to swerve around it and she goes flying off the seat.

…

I step on the brakes and turn around in my seat. It looks like she landed head-first in a snow drift.

Apparently Meat doesn't notice because he goes whizzing right on by.

'Great.' I think to myself. 'Her first mission and I've already killed her.'

I shake my head and drive back to where she's laying in the snow…eh… more like doing a headstand in the snow. I hop off and try not to laugh as she flails her legs around in the air, trying desperately to move one way or the other.

"Ugh…loosen my grip my rear…where's a good garden weasel when you need one?" She grumbles.

"That's an interesting landing."

She gasps, her legs stopping mid-struggle. "Ghost, is that you?"

"Yes, are you all right down there?"

"Gee, let me think…"

I laugh at her tone and kneel down next to her, "I'm gonna pull you out now." I grab the back of her supply vest and pull. A very snowy Gadget tumbles out of the snowdrift and lands on her back. Her helmet fell off and her scarf had fallen to reveal a pair of blue lips and reddened cheeks.

"Great. Now I'm cold, wet, AND there's snow in my coat." Gadget grumbles, her teeth chattering a little.

I lean over and dig her helmet out of the snow. "Sorry about that, I almost crashed."

"I t-told you to slow down-n," She teases, gathering her hair into a short pony tail. It's a simple chestnut color, but soaking wet from the snow. "Did the others stop too?"

I opened my mouth to answer but I was interrupted by my radio crackling to life from my headphones.

"Ghost, where are you two?" Mactavish asks crossly.

"Gadget decided to learn to fly. I had to go back for her."

She glares at me and stuffs her helmet back on. "Not funny."

Well, Meat and Hawkings seem to think it is hilarious, I can hear them laughing.

"We'll meet up with you at the campsite. Archer's already there with the extra squad right?"

"Right; Mactavish out," And the radio becomes silent again.

Gadget pulls her scarf back into place and gives me a look. "I'm driving."

"Uh, no."

"Uh, yeah," She counters, climbing onto the snowmobiles seat. "Either get on or I'm leaving you to walk."

I grumble about her and her stubbornness before getting into the seat. I put my arms around her waist, feeling a little awkward, and prepare for a bumpy ride. I figured as an FNG she'd never operated a snow mobile before. Well I was bloody wrong; she went an even 70 and took turns smoothly.

"I didn't know you could drive one of these things."

"My brother taught me when we went on vacation to Canada." I can hear the smile in her voice as she remembers a better time. "It was only a couple monthes before my father left."

I give her a reassuring little squeeze. "You adjusted well though."

She shrugs, eyes not leaving the snowy terrain. "Yeah…I guess I did."

We remain silent for the rest of the ride. I was thinking about the rest of the week and Gadget was thinking about…well who knows what she's thinking about. After about ten of fifteen minutes of riding the campsite finally comes into view.

I spot Archer right away, sitting with his sniper across his lap next to a little campfire. He and Mactavish are talking.

The second we stop Hawkings appears to greet us…when I say us I mean Gadget.

"I was most worried about you Miss Robins; you haven't been injured have you?"

I smirk a little behind my mask as Gadget trys to think of what to say. The poor guy is bloody in love with her already.

"No, I'm fine. Just freezing," Gadget mutters. "And Gadget is fine."

Hawkings links his arm around hers and leads her towards the fire. "Of course, the Captain told me about your spill. I have to say, I'm impressed that you held on for as long as you did at the speed you were going."

We all sit down close to the fire. Archer gives me a questioning look. I shrug, silently telling him I have no clue what to do about Hawkings. Meat comes over and sits down between me and Gadget. "So, what do you think of your first mission Gadget? Is it what you expected?"

Gadget smiles widely. "Honestly it's better than dodging bullets all day, but it's not what I expected at all."

"What did you do before that had you dodging bullets, Miss Robins?"

"It's Gadget and I was in the Rangers for the United States. I'm sure you've heard of them."

"Ah yes, 'Rangers lead the way' right?"

She nods. "This is actually my first mission away from them."

"So, what did you do before you joined the army?"

"High school," Gadget answers shortly, standing up. "I'm gonna go dry off."

After she leaves Hawkings frowns. "What was that about?"

"She doesn't talk about her life much." Meat explains. "Just about what she's done since she joined up with the Rangers."

Mactavish and Archer come over to our fire. "Is everything all right?" 'Tavish asks.

I nod. "She landed in a snow drift. No injuries but she got soaking wet." I chuckle. "She made me let her drive here."

Archer smiles, "Sounds like she was finally introduced to the horrible driver known as Ghost, eh?"

We all laugh. Hawkings excuses himself and heads off for his tent.

The sun is just starting to sink beneath the trees when Gadget comes out of her tent again. She's taken off her scarf, helmet, and goggles and I notice for the first time how different she looks without them. She's just a kid for god sakes! Then again I'm only four or five years older than her.

Gadget sits down between me and Mactavish in the snow. "Where's the marshmellows?" She asks innocently. "I couldn't find them."

"Marshmallows?" Meat repeats in awe. "You brought marshmallows, woman?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure where they ended up though." Gadget sighs. "I was really looking forward to them too."

…

Well now Meat's off searching for marshmallows.

"Why did we bring bloddy marshmellows in the first place?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow.

"We didn't." She shrugs. "I just figured I'd give the poor guy something to do."

Archer grins. "How'd you know he liked marshmallows Gadge?" He asks, using his own nickname for her.

"Intuition," Gadget winks playfully. "If you listen closely enough to conversations you pick up on a lot." She looks to Mactavish. "I actually need to make a personal call. Would that be all right sir?"

"Aye, try to make it short though." The captain nods.

I watch the fire as Gadget pulls out her cell phone. With her 'military minutes' as she calls them she gets pretty decent service all the way out here. She dials a number and waits a few seconds. "Hey Alex...Yeah it's me...No I'm okay." She pauses while the person on the other line talks. "I'm safe where I am, I promise. How are you holding up?" She waits again. "No my team is fine." She looks up as Meat comes back over, looking defeated. "Listen, I just wanted to check on you…no Alex, I'm not hurt. I swear…" Meat gives me a look. I give him a 'shh' sign and go back to watching the fire.

"No, my C.O.'s are actually pretty cool." Gadget smiles at Mactavish, "actually my captain's only a little messed up in the head. Yeah, I'm still only a corporal…Okay, I'll talk to you soon Alex. Take care of yourself… I love you too. Bye."

The second she hangs up Meat's hounding her. "Oooooooo, so his name's Alex."

"Whose?" Gadget asks.

"Your boyfriend's," Meat laughs.

Her cheeks turn an alarming shade of red. "Alex is not—"

"Oh, sure he's not."

"He isn't, Alex is my—"

"Oh my God!" Meat gasps. "He's your husband then?"

"No Alex is—"

"He's your fiance?"

"Absolutely not, Alex is my—"

"Ewww, is it your girlfriend? I never took you for that type."

Gadget throws her hands in the air. "Alex is my older_**brother**_. Happy?"

Meat frowns, "No. It gives me no joy that I still don't know who your boyfriend-slash-girlfriend is."

"Ew, gross Meat." She makes a face. "First of all, I don't fly that way. Second of all, I hate to disappoint you but the closest thing I've recently had to a boyfriend was one of my friends back in the Rangers."

I swallow back laughter. Wow, Gadget has no bloody idea how to keep Meat out of her business.

"A forbidden romance then," Meat's eyes light up. "Oooooooo, wait till I tell Worm."

Her cheeks become redder and I'm sure it's not from the cold. "No, it was nothing like that. He was into me, that's all. I didn't feel the same and it ended there."

He frowns. "Jesus, woman, one would think you had a somewhat interesting love life in the past."

"Well, I didn't," Gadget crosses her arms, "Sorry to disappoint you."

Archer and I burst into laughter while the captain chuckles a little too.

"I'm sorry Gadge, but that was priceless." Archer wipes a pretend tear from his eye. "I can't believe how many different ways Meat messed that up before you ended it."

"Aye," Mactavish agrees. "I have to admit that was funny."

For a while Meat and Archer tried to pry the name of this guy out of Gadget. It ends with her threatening them with a garden weasel.

Meat rolls his eyes. "You can't really depend on a garden weasel _**THAT**_ much."

"Fine then, I'm sure a weed whacker will do just fine."

I frown. "What's with the garden tools Gadget? Are you becoming a garden tool junkie on us?"

She looks at her hands mock-dejectedly. "I don't wanna talk about it." She sniffles a little. "I feel awful already."

I put a hand on her shoulder, playing along. "We're here for you. We'll find a nice rehab igloo and get you some help."

She laughs and stands up. "Well, it's getting late. I'm heading in."

"I guess I'll go too." Archer shrugs and heads to his tent. "Good night."

"Well, since you two are no fun to harass, I'm getting to bed." Meat yawns.

The captain watches the three of them go. "You want first watch tonight?"

"Why not," I smirk. "I'm not tired any ways. You get some sleep."

It's quiet for about an hour. I try to keep my mind busy, thinking up long math problems to pass the time. To say the least, I'm bored. The math isn't helping either.

Figuring everyone was asleep, I pulled off my balaclava.

So I give up on that and switch to toying with my knife. My mind wanders to who Gadget's 'friend' might've been. I don't know too many Rangers, but all of the ones I do know are more 'stick-to-the-orders' than our group. Not the type to flirt with a comrade.

I spot a shadow moving away from the tents. I close my hand around my pistol and watch it closely. Whoever it is puts a cig in their mouth and lights it quickly.

I get up and silently walk over to them, recognizing a shivering Gadget in a heart beat. She's changed out of her gear and is wearing a bulky hoodie and thick sweatpants. I can't see her shoes since she's standing in deep snow.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" I ask her.

Gadget jumps, her cig falling to the snow. "Cuss! That was my last one!" Looking at me for a moment she frowns. "Ghost…is that you?"

I half nodded. "I didn't know you smoked."

"Only when I'm stressed." She smirks, hugging her arms in an effort to get warm.

"What is there to be stressed about? This mission is going to be smooth sailing." I pull a cig out of my inner pocket and pop it between her lips.

She gives me an appreciative nod and lifts her lighter to the end. Gadget takes a quick puff and studies my eyes. "My brother doesn't know I'm on a task force in enemy territory. He doesn't know that I've been shot twice when I was with the rangers. He doesn't know a lot…" Her light brown eyes jump to the cloudy night sky above us. She takes another drag and sighs out the smoke. "He's all the family I got left and it seems like all I do is lie to him."

I examine her face closely. Suddenly, all that sorrow that was swimming in her eyes just a moment ago is gone; replaced by a simple look of confidence.

After a few moments of silence I reach over and pluck my cancer stick from her mouth and put it between my lips, holding it between my teeth. "This is a nasty habit huh?"

She nods silently, stealing it back and finishing the last of the cigarette off. "I'll quit…You?"

"I was gonna a few years back…" That's all I said. No need to elaborate. No need to explain. No need for things to get too personal.

Gadget looks over my face intently; I stared back at her wishing I had my balaclava on. I knew she saw the odd difference between my age and my attitude. I hope she doesn't ask me about what I was doing 'a few years back'. I'm pleasantly surprised when she says, "Henry was always trying to get me to quit."

I raise an eyebrow. "Henry?"

"The guy from Rangers I was talking about earlier. Good guy, but too 'stick-to-orders' for me." She shrugs. There's another short silence. "If you tell Meat or Archer or anyone his name I'll—"

"Get a bloody garden weasel?"

Gadget smirks. "I was gonna say strap C4 to your mask…but that works too."

I chuckle. "Good, because the garden weasel is only truly intimidating the first time you bring it up."

**{Locating Cprl. Emily 'Gadget' Robins}**

**[Shifting to Gadget's POV]**

I smile up at Ghost's exposed face. I feel a little awkward because Meat always told me that nobody had ever seen Ghost's face but the Captain and_ maybe _Sheperd. I can tell why he wears it though, there are a few burn scars and healed cuts on his cheeks. Other than that he looks like a college student. With watery blue eyes and short, sandy blond hair he just seems normal. Not at all the gun toteing skeleton he is with the mask on.

"Well. It's been nice talking Ghost, but you should get to bed."

OH! How did I call that? His eyebrow goes up and his eyes get a bit of a playful tinge to them. "_**I**_ should get to bed?"

"Yeah," I nod, poking his chest. "_**You**_ should get to bed. I'll take watch."

"I can't let you do that, Corporal."

I frown. "Why not, Lieutenant?"

"You aren't in uniform." He smiles. "Good night."

…

The next afternoon I find myself sitting next to Archer on a high ridge. We have a deck of cards, two snipers, twenty four clips of ammo, and plenty of time on our hands.

I'm shuffling the cards while Archer is clearing the snow and ice off of our 'playing table' which is really just a rock that was nearby.

"You know how to play Five-Card-Stud?" I ask him.

He nods. "What can we use for chips?"

"Uh…how about we use bullets?"

"Sure," He sits cross legged next to the rock. "Deal 'em up."

I give Archer a face down card and then get one for myself. Then I put a face-up on the rock for each of us. My face up is a queen of hearts and his is a ten of spades. I bet first and he follows suit. Three Face-Up cards later, I reveal a royal flush while he has a pair of aces.

"Hah!" I tease. "Not so smart now are ya?"

He rolls his eyes. "This is just a game of luck. You win some you lose some."

"Just like life."

He smiles and nods. "Just like life."

We play a few more hands in quiet conversation, staying away from serious topics.

I look down over the mountain towards the snow and ice on the ground. "I used to live in Florida." I say, pulling my right glove off and running my fingers through the cold snow next to me. "I didn't see snow until I was eight. Then I didn't see it again till I joined the army."

"I always liked the snow as a kid," Archer smiles, tossing three bullets onto the 'table'. "Me and my uncle Mike used to go skiing together."

"I've never been skiing before."

"You, me, and the guys will all go next time we get some R&R. We'll head up to the mountains and go all together at the same time."

"Where are there mountains that we could ski down without dying?"

He pauses for a moment, thinking. "Kentucky."

We both laugh. I knew we would never actually go skiing as a team. I knew that R&R would take us all home to our families for a few short days, not to the mountains together. I knew that I would probably never ski in my whole life. But, it was one of those things that you planned to do, even though you knew it would never happen.

Like, as a little kid, I planned a whole family vacation after my mom died. I had us going to the moon and Africa and even just to the pond to go fishing. I knew none of them would ever happen, but it was still something to think about. Sometimes Alex would talk about it with me. We'd draw pictures together of Mom and Dad and Me and Him all out in a little row boat, fishing. We'd draw mom and dad together on the moon and us chasing a space rover. We'd draw our mother back to life and we were happy with just that even when we knew it wasn't real.

I'm sucked out of memories when Archer pushes my head down; six bullets whiz over me and crack into the cliff side behind us.

"Get down!" I yell, going prone. Archer does the same, grabbing his gun and looking through the scope.

"I don't recognize their uniforms and there aren't any patches on their sleeves."

"How many are there?" I whisper, readying my radio to report to the captain.

"Eight…no wait…ten foot-mobiles. Two more just came out of the treeline."

"Gotcha," I click my radio on. "Mac, this is Gadget, we're under fire; ten plus foot mobiles with no markings or recognizable uniforms just fired six shots at our postion while our patches and clearance were completely visible. Do we have permission to engage, sir?"

"I'll have to report to base on that one." Mactavish's scotish accent seems thicker on the radio. "Standby…"

"Standing by, sir," I peek over the edge and another volley of bullets puncture the rocks above and below my head. "See if you can make it a quick call…please."

"You loaded up?" Archer asks with his finger already on the trigger.

"Always," I grin.

My radio crackles on. "One-four-one, this is HQ. Permission to engage granted, Gadget." I recognize Shepard's voice. "Fire when you have clear shots."

"Are we aiming to kill, sir?" I ask, already lining up a clean head shot.

"Yes, aim to kill, aim to kill."

Almost at the same moment Archer and I pull our triggers.

We make quick and easy work of the whole squad. Archer speaks into his radio. "All tangos are down, sir. What are your orders?"

It's Mactavish this time, Sheperd must've gotten bored already. "We're on our way up there. Keep your eyes open and watch for anymore trouble. We're bringing the VIP with us." He pauses, apparently listening to someone. "Meat says the VIP misses you, Gadget."

I groan while Archer stifles a laugh. "Thanks Captain."

It's only day two.

…

Well, when everyone finally gets here I start to stand up from our hiding spot. "Gadget, get down—"

Before Archer finishes his warning a bullet sinks into my upper left arm. I curse loudly and close my hand around the wound. Looking up to where the bullet came from I shoot without aiming. We can faintly hear an echoing scream and a body slips out of a tree.

I slump against the side of our hiding spot and groan again as the pain of the injury sinks in. "Gadget are you okay?"

I lift my right hand away from the wound and see crimson blood on my bare hand. "Yeah…He just got my arm…It's just a flesh wound."

Archer comes over next to me and examines the bullet hole carefully. "She's right, sir. The bullet missed her bone and any important arteries." He loops my good arm around his shoulders. "We're coming down now."

"Right, Ghost; get the first aid off of the snow mobile. Meat, you keep us covered. Hawkings, stay down."

I start to protest about Archer practically supporting all of my weight, but I'm losing blood and getting a little too light headed to think straight enough to walk down a steep mountainside.

Finally we get down to the bottom. By now I'm practically blinded by the pain. I move my arm a little to make sure it still works…it does but not without sending more pain through my body.

As Ghost patches me up I keep telling them I'm fine and that it's no big deal and that I've been shot before.

They all ignore me. When Ghost is done I push him away and use my right arm to pull myself into a standing position. "Geeze, one would think that I'd been shot in the chest with that treatment." I teased him.

Meat gives me a look. "Really… What'd your Ranger buddy do when you were shot?"

"He'd toss me a med kit and cover me while I took care of it myself."

"And…" He urged, knowing there was more.

"And then he'd pester me for about a full week after that to not do anything to hurt myself again."

"Bingo." Meat laughs.

Mactavish comes over to where I'm leaning against a snow mobile. "Area's clear. You all right Gadget?"

"I'm fine," I smile weakly. "Just a flesh wound."

Next thing I know Hawkings is by my side. He grasps my hand in both of his. "Miss Robins are you all right?"

I fell myself blush again. God I hate being the center of attention. I open my mouth to answer, but I'm interupted when Hawkings keeps talking.

"I cannot believe the misfortune that has befallen you. Please accept my deepest apologies for dragging you along."

"Dragging isn't the word I'd use—"

"Hush," He presses a finger to my lips. "Don't strain yourself Miss Robins."

"I'm not straining myself by talking and my name is—"

"Are you in much pain?" He interrupts, "You aren't bleeding to horribly are you?"

"No." I shake my head. "I'm fine. And my name isn't Miss Robins. It's Gadget or if that's to hard its Corporal Robins."

The rest of the night drags along like a sloth on sleeping pills. Hawkings won't stop hounding me and I barely have any down time with him following me around.

Archer and Ghost went back up the cliff side to get the rest of our supplies. When I get a second Mactavish and I start cross referencing with the HQ about whom exactly attacked us. The bodies were no help because none of them had patches or identification of any kind.

By the time I get to bed I'm more exhausted than ever. Pretty much the moment my head hits the pillow I'm out cold.

**Heyy dudes.**

**Yeah, that was twice as long as the other ones. I'm trying to fit in more.**

**So basically I wrote whatever popped into my head whenever it did and ended up with 4,300 words of beautifully random bull crap :D GO ME!**

**So, yes I'm finally developing into a plot here. Just be patient…if you can.**

**Cprl. Emily 'Gadget' Robins out.**


	4. Five hours and 4 minutes

Day3-4

This Is Where Things Get Bad

{Mild to moderate violence and slight drug reference though no-one uses any}

I'm rudely awakened by three things; the cold, pain, and gun shots.

Without thinking, I use my left arm to prop myself up. I groan in pain before struggling to my feet and closing my hands around my nearby UMP45.

I peek out the tent's flap to see one of our relief troops fall to the ground. I choke back a scream and recollect myself, reaching out and pulling the soldier into the safety of my tent. He's bleeding from the leg, but it's not fatal.

"This is what one would call a rude awakening." I grumble, grabbing my emergency kit off of my bag and popping it open. "Talk to me man, what's your name?"

"Jackson," He pants, clearly in a lot of pain. "Paul Jackson."

"What's the sitrep?"

"More of the men dressed like the ones who attacked yesturday are here. No patches or contact. No clearance."

I examine his eyes. They're getting a little cloudy and he's not focusing on me.

"What's your rank soldier?" I ask, starting to patch up his leg.

"I'm…I'm a private." His voice is accented, though only slightly. British I believe.

"You got any family back home Private Jackson?"

His eyes are getting distant. I snap my fingers, keeping him at attention.

"Tell me about that family Private."

"I-I have a daughter back home and my wife."

"Keep talking, what are their names?" I know I have to keep him from slipping into shock. I figure if I keep him talking he'll stay with me.

"M-Martha and Lucy…" He pauses. "And our dog Butters."

"What kinda dog?"

"He's a german sheperd…"

I finish the patch job and look up at Jackson. With his leg patched up he's regaining color. Good. "Private, I need you to do something for me."

"Yes?" He asks, lifting his head.

I load my Glock up and press it into his palm. "Take care of yourself soldier and try to stay awake and alert. Martha needs you back home."

He gives me an appreciative smile and nods. "I suppose you're right…Corporal."

I just nod back without smiling or speaking. Lifting my UMP, I dive out of the tent and behind one of the snowmobiles. I quickly asses the situation, noting the number and manuverability of the enemy, then plan my course of action. Looks like around twenty men. Ghost is off to my left, using boulders as cover. Mactavish is next to one of the tents and I'll assume Steven is in there. Archer is with Meat behind the other snowmobile. The tangos are blocking all around us so we're pinned against the mountainside.

My eyes are working in time with my hands. I carefully pull on my bullet proof vest and grab a few frags and flashbangs. I don't even bother with my hair. I pick out a spot where I'd have decent cover, between an ammo crate that our relief team brought and a steep cliff face.

Then, I figure which men will be best to take out first. RPG guy has a clear shot at me and so does the Akimbo Mini Uzi man over there. They'll be the first to go.

I take a steadying breath and make a run for it.

Two shots have my primary targets down. Ghost notices that I joined the party and gives me a quick cover spray. I nod in his direction when I'm safe and begin looking for any snipers or anything else risky nearby. I take careful aim and shoot two men who were advancing on Mactavish with SMG's. He gives me a quick nod, since I don't have my radio in, and goes back to shooting.

I notice Meat and Archer are getting a little to overrun and take out four men nearest to them. The enemy's numbers are dwindling down to being closer to ours, but that doesn't seem to make them want to leave.

If anything, they're pushing back harder.

My UMP clicks empty. I mutter a few curses and drop it to the snow. I pull out my PP2000 and take careful aim. I'm less accurate with the machine pistol but I still get a few kills.

"They're bringing in reinforcements!" Ghost screams over the sound of firing guns.

"Right, Gadget, you keep us covered. We have to get the VIP out." Mactavish yells to me. I nod, picking up my UMP and opening the ammo case I grab as many clips as I can and slam one into my gun.

I dashed over to the tent where Mactavish stood. I dropped to one knee and kept watch while he hustled Steven over to the fastest snowmobile we had. The guy actually has the nerves to blow me a kiss as the captain drives him away. I sigh and shake my head. It's always the same moves, different day.

Now Ghost yells. "We have to keep them at bay. Meat, get the machine gun. Archer, get on the horn and tell them we're under heavy attack. See if you can get us a lift outta here or any type of support. Gadget, I'll cover you while you make sure we don't leave any type of Intel at all! Check on Jackson too."

I dash towards my tent, knowing that I'd need to get my army issue laptop and Jackson to safety. Then I'll comb over the other tents. I push through the tent flap to find the Private sitting up against the tent's wall, aiming my own glock at me.

For a moment, I think he'll blow my head off, but he recognizes me and lowers the gun. "Are they gone?" He asks hoarsley.

I nod, pulling his arm around my shoulders. "For now," I help him outside and onto the snowmobile he'd been on when they came for extra support. I hand him my backup radio and smile. "Get moving."

He nods and takes off.

Now it's time to get to work.

I go back to my tent and pull on my supply vest and heavy jacket. Then I slip my laptop into the intermost pocket, zipping up quickly. I grab my gloves and slip them on and then I grab my dog tags off of the sleeping bag. Then I head to Meat's tent. He doesn't have much that could be Intel, but I do grab his dog tags and a few letters he brought with him. I don't read them, but I know he'll want them.

Then I get to Archer's and get his photo of his family and his bag of ammo for long stake outs. Then in Mactavish's tent I get all of the files we brought and the two other laptop computers.

As I head to Ghost's tent I wonder how much extra weight I've picked up so far. I guess that the ammo bag, two bullet proof laptops, and one army issue one is taking up most of the weight.

The sounds of more gunshots ring out and I duck into Ghost's tent quickly. Three more bullet proff laptops, one radio, his headset, and a few paper files would be really bad to leave. I pack them either into the ammo bag or into my jacket pockets. As I head for the door something catches my eye; an old notebook resting on his pillow. I reach down and pick it up, looking it over. The cover is torn and shabby and the pages almost look like they're yellowing from the weather. I don't open it, I don't read the front, and I don't even leaf through it. It just goes into my jacket and I'm outta there.

The campsite is hot now, and it's clear that we only have a few minutes to get out. I signal Ghost that I have everything and he nods and then signals Meat and Archer. They give an 'okay' sign, hop onto a snowmobile, and take off. I run over to Ghost and hop onto the back. "You're driving, just lemme know when you're gonna swerve.

He nods silently and guns the thing.

…

We find everyone else about half an hour later. My injured arm is stiff and sore from all the sudden activity and Jackson didn't seem to be doing well either.

Finally Meat says it. "I'm not gonna lie, that scared the cuss outta me."

Archer laughs and nods. "I agree. Who are those people?"

I hop down from the snowmobile and unzip the ammo bag, handing Archer his picture and Ghost his headset and the paper files. Then I unzip my jacket and put the laptops onto the closest snowmobile.

"How much you got in there, woman?" Meat asked, "You've already unloaded like 16 pounds."

I roll my eyes silently, to sore to answer. I just hand him the stack of letters I grabbed.

His eyes soften a little and he smiles. "You're okay, you know that?"

I just laugh and pull out Ghost's notebook, holding it out to him. His eyebrow pops into view and I can just barely see his eyes through those glasses. Slowly he takes it from me, and then slides it into one of his Kevlar vest's pockets. "Thanks."

"Good job getting everything out you three." Mactavish says, accepting the radio from me. "I need to report this and get us outta here. Hawkings trip will just have to wait."

I lean against the snowmobile, exhaustion replacing the temporary energy I had gotten from such a sudden awakening. Now I was cold and tired and I'd left most of my supplies behind. The others were talking quietly amongst themselves, Ghost and Mactavish are trying to figure out how to get a pick up arranged ASAP since whoever was back there is probably right on our tails. Meat and Archer are talking with Jackson about god knows what and Hawkings is quietly smoking a cigarette, adding to the conversation on occasion.

I try flexing my left arm and immediately regret it, pain flowing through me at the sudden effort. I let my eyes squeeze shut, trying to ward off the throbbing pain.

"You all right?" I open my eyes and see Mactavish standing next to me, a lit cigar in his mouth.

"Yes sir, just a little stiff is all." I try my best to grin and bear it, but I know he's not buying it.

My radio crackles to life; "Squad A-14, this is the HQ, do you copy?"

I hold in the transmit button. "We copy you, HQ. What's the situation?"

"We need a positive identification of the group that's been attacking your squad. Do you think you can dig anything up?"

I frown. They really want me to waste time figuring out who these people are? I hide my dissatisfaction and respond, "Can do. I'll get on that. Meanwhile what's the status on pickup?"

"Command is sending a pavelow to pick up the VIP for temporary transport. They want your squad to see what kind of damage you can do to these attackers."

Without pressing the button I mutter, "You've gotta be kidding." Then I say to the HQ. "We'll see what we can do; A-14 out."

I sigh and grab two of the laptops.

"Time to get to work," I open them both and start cross referencing the area and the weapons the attackers carried.

While I was working, Meat starts up a little fire. It's nice to be a little warmer and I can finally shrug off the vest and jacket, leaving me in my black turtle neck and sweat pants.

A few hours of searching and hacking my way through firewalls, I shout. "Bingo!"

"Bingo?" Archer repeats giving me a look.

"Yes 'bingo'." I turn the computer around so everyone can see. "It's a large drug ring that works out of here. They have shipments heading out as far as Mexico and Africa. Well equipped and well funded the place is like a whole government on its own."

"And you tracked it on a laptop?" Ghost seems surprised.

I nod. "You'd be surprised how much they slip up. They've spent billions of dollars hushing up the police and several different governments. Not to mention how much cash flow these guys get through the internet."

Mactavish crouches down and examines the screen with a stoic expression. "Who knew that the one-four-one would be getting into drug busts?" He mutters. "Well, good job Gadget. Call this into headquaters and find out when we can get Hawkings out of here."

"HQ this is A-14, please respond." I pause. "HQ this is A-14, do you copy?"

"We copy A-14. What do you have for us?" Shepherd. I ignore a twinge of dis-like and continue.

"You won't believe this, sir. We have a multi-billion dollar drug ring. We seem to have wandered onto their turf."

"Any specifications," He asks.

"Only enough to lock up a few hundred drug dealers for life and a few hundred more of them to have a date with the needle… Unfortunately these guys seem to be better equipped then our team and they have been paying off governments and world leaders to keep them quiet."

There's a long pause where I wait patiently, picturing the General's glazed over expression as he thought things over. "All right, A-14, we're sending a little bird for the VIP. You and the team move forward to the backup LZ and wait there for pickup. ETA for the little bird is twenty five minutes."

"But sir, we were told that a Pave Low was coming for his pick—"

"Change of plans, Corporal. You've done a good job, headquaters out."

I swallow back a snarl as I click my radio off and reattach it to my vest. I'm so sick of him not caring about anyone but his 30,000 dead soldiers. They're all he's ever talked about. Doesn't he realize that he's got some of the best men in the world working under him? I understand his hard feelings, and I would care less if I was the only one he treated this way, but the others didn't deserve this.

"Looks like we're on our own for a while... The secondary LZ isn't for another full days hike." I sigh. My arm gets another twinge of pain.

"Well…you did get to but a multi-billion dollar drug industry on your first mission." Steven offers.

I grin at him and laugh. "Yeah, I guess so. And at least you did not die."

He chuckles. "That is another good point."

I go back to the computer, reading over the few articles I managed to get. It isn't much but it's a start. So far I've gathered that the ring operates out of an underground base about 1200km from here. I also figured out that they have nearly 10,000 men in employment, but only a few hundred work out of the base. I also found that they operate with no questions asked. You need a job; you're hired as long as you're willing to get your hands dirty. You turn coat and they kill on the spot. And that's all I had. Not even a name.

I rub my temples tiredly, waving off another bout of pain from my arm. Then I hear the sound of a chopper's blades in the air. I look up to see a little bird lowering into the snow. Hawkings, who's been reading over my shoulder, reaches out and shakes my hand.

"It's been a pleasure, miss Robins, but I'd hate to miss my flight."

I smile. "Take care of yourself Hawkings. Try not to annoy anymore drug rings. Also, it's Gadget."

He turns to Mactavish. "I must thank you again, sir. If it weren't for you and your team I'd probably be dead right now."

"No worrys Hawkings. Get yourself on that helo and try to stay out of trouble."

His goodbyes to the other four were short and soon he was in the air.

I shiver and go back to my laptop. Half listening as Mactavish talked about what we'd be doing in the morning. The sun is gone by the time I get through the next firewall. Everyone but the captain and I have dug large holes in the snow to get some sleep before morning.

After around an hour of silence Mactavish speaks up. "That Hawkings fellow really took a liking to you, aye Gadget?"

"Really? I didn't even notice." I smirk, still typing in random codes and viruses. "Maybe I should've been more alert to the guy's emotions."

Mactavish nods. "Or maybe you should've noticed when he was kissing your hand."

We elapse into silence once again, with just the clicking of my keyboard and the soft whir of the computer. I hear a familiar click and look up to see the captain lighting a second cigar. Now I'm sick of the silence and want to talk. I set aside the computer to run its bypass and look up to my captain. I've admired him since the second I joined the 141. I knew he'd been the one to kill Zakeheav and that he lost his whole team. I felt bad for him, but something about that made me admire him even more.

"Sir, permission to speak frankly."

"Go ahead, Emily. You don't need to treat me like of one of your Ranger sergeants."

I smile inwardly when he uses my real name. I haven't been called Emily by anyone other than Alex since last time I saw Henry a few months back. "Do you ever have nightmares?"

His eyes flash a little, but his face remains neutral. "Sometimes."

"I have the worst nightmares." I sigh, looking down to the snow.

Mactavish takes a long drag from the cigar (which I've just noticed looks Cuban) and looks at me intently. "You have nightmares?"

"Most nights." I nod. "A lot of times about my dad."

The silence doesn't last very long. "You didn't have the ideal childhood, did you?"

"No. I've come a long way since then, but it's still one of those things you can never honestly let go of."

I see his eyes soften a bit. "It's just a part of you now, isn't it? Your 'cross to bear' so to speak."

"We all have things like that…" I fall silent as the computer's bypass is complete. I pull it into my lap and read over my most recently collected article. Most of it has bee filtered and censored and refiltered so many times that it's complete rubbish. But I have my name. Project Frost. Gayest drug-ring-name I've ever heard of, but I'll take what I can get. I save the information and close it up.

"What's your brother like?" Mactavish asks, looking off towards the wooded area.

"Alex is a great person. He's always doing things for other people, always trying to better the world, and always worrying about me." I think about what my brother looked like the last time I'd seen him. "He's happier now than we were as kids. Then he'd always be brooding over something small. Usually my health or something."

"And your dad?"

"I haven't seen my dad in seventeen years." I answer quickly. I don't want to talk about him though so I do a quick subject change. "What about you? You have any family back home?"

"Nah, but I have a few of close friends I go visit when I'm on R&R." He doesn't specify and I can tell he doesn't want to.

I keep my mouth shut, and open my computer again, focusing on the screen before me. I read several generic names that I'd seen pop up thousands of times on the list of known workers. Ivan, Eric, John, Kiril, Lev, the list was just endless and might as well have been the most popular names in seven or eight different countries. Useless; it was just complete garbage that didn't help her towards her goal what-so-ever. Her eyes locked on the actual name of the organization again. 'Project Frost'.

"I'll take watch, sir." I offer. "I'm still working anyways."

He nods slightly and goes off to dig himself a hole near the fire for warmth.

I scroll through the information nearly a million times. Every single article tells me the same thing. If Project Frost decided to keep coming after us there was a slim chance we'd make it out unscathed…a _**very **_slim chance.

**[ERROR CODE: 88946738]**

**{SYSTEM: Running diagnostic-STANDBY}**

**[RUNNING TROUBLESHOOTING]**

**[ERROR CODE: 8897253]**

**{STANDBY}**

**[Signal from Cprl. Emily 'Gadget' Robins LOST]**

**{STANDBY}**

**[LOCATING Lt. Simon 'Ghost' Riley-STANDBY]**

**{Simon 'Ghost Riley LOCATED}**

**[Shifting to Ghost's POV]**

I wake to frosty air in the morning. I blink, trying to clear my head of sleep. Sitting up, the first thing I see is Gadget, huddled up near the campfire, still trying to crack codes on her computer.

I drag myself off the ground and sit down next to her. "Good morning," I smile, though I know she can't see it.

"It's morning?"

I nod. "You were up all night." It's not a question. I gently trace a finger over the purple circle beneath her right eye. "You should've slept some."

Her cheeks darken a little and she looks away from me. "Yeah…I had to figure this out. I've been chipping away at this firewall for two…" She clances at her GPS watch. "Three hours and forty eight minutes. I'm about halfway through."

I surpress a chuckle; She's so ticked over not being able to zip through the firewall in under five minutes like all the other ones. But this one was clearly harder.

"Need some help?" I offer, examining the screen.

She smiles warmly at me. "I'd love it. But, shouldn't we get moving?"

"The others need more rest…Especially Mactavish."

She nods without questioning and goes back to trying to run the bypass. It got about halfwaythrough loading before being terminated. Her soft brown eyes suddenly become bright with anger. Cursing she types a few more codes and random digits into the keyboard.

"It's taken you four hours to get halfway through?"

"Five." She corrects, looking at the time again, "Five hours to get halfway thorough."

I examine the incription code on the screen. Sure enough, it doesn't look like anything I've ever broken through before (which is surprising considering how much I've broken into over the years). I point to the one portion of the code I do recognize. "Try re-entering that one twice."

"Sure…Sweeeeet," She beams when the code goes through, "You just saved me from 2 and a half hours of work; 73% in after five hours and…4 minutes."

I lean back on the palms of my hands, seceretly thrilled I was able to crack part of it faster than her. "So, what are you trying to prove here?"

Gadget looks baffled, her eyebrows knitted together. "Prove? What do you mean?"

"Shepherd gave no direct orders to crack this and yet you've lost sleep over it."

"Screw Shepherd," She mutters. "I just want to do _SOMETHING_. It is a billion dollar drug ring for Christssakes."

"It's the glory then?"

"No."

"Honor? Keeping to the Ranger code?"

"Absolutely not."

"Proving yourself in the eyes of the General to get a medal?"

"Please." She scoffs, "If I was here for glory or Honor or the code or a nice badge to hang on the wall I would've died back with the Rangers in Afghanistan."

"Then what is it?" When she remains silent I press the matter further. "What makes you tick, Gadget?"

For the first time since the conversation started her eyes lock with mine, "I'm here because I want to be able to help men who deserve to die peacefully instead of in some field somewhere because they were shot in the arm. I'm here because I _**want **_to be. I'm not here for anything else."

Silence. To be honest I'm a little surprised by her answer. Some of the people I knew back home could care less about what happened to soldiers of any kind. They'd say 'If they didn't want to die out there, then why did they risk it?'…

I disagreed with them every time.

"What about you Simon? What 'makes you tick'?"

I smirk a little. "I'm gonna have to go with revenge on that one. It's selfish and probably stupid, but it's why I stick around."

Gadget smiles sadly, "But it wasn't like that at first…was it?"

"No." I answer stiffly.

No more than the bare minimum, no less than a short answer. That's all I'll give my newfound friend on that one.

I look off towards the trees, watching some of the snow fall softly to the ground. I feel a light hand on my shoulder and I look back to Gadget. Her hair is wet and stringy from the snow and she'd lost her goggles back at camp. The tan neck scarf was pulled down to reveal her pale complexion. Her light lips were still pulled up at the edges with that same sad smile plastered there. Her eyes were softened with understanding.

She doesn't speak or question why I'd suddenly locked myself up. She just sat there, cross-legged in the snow, a source of silent serenity.

Then she goes back to cussing out the computer and absentmindedly muttering to herself about the codes.

**{Transmission LOST}**

**[STANDBY]**

**(RUN: BYPASS 403)**

**{BYPASS TERMINATED}**

**(RUN: PGRM. TROJAN45768)**

**{PGRM. TROJAN45768 TERMINATED}**

**[STANDBY]**

**{Searching Cpt. John Mactavish}**

**[SOURCE UNKNOWN]**

**{Searching Pvt. Paul Jackson}**

**[SOURCE UNKNOWN}**

**{Searching Sp. Charles 'Meat' Andrews}**

**[WARNING: Search Programming ERROR]**

**{ERROR CODE 5938203}**

**[STANDBY]**

**Well, well, well. As I'm sitting here trying to hack into the system and Ghost decides to make me admit to why I even bother. YAY! :P**

**But anyways, over 200 people have opened up this story and I have 8 reviews. WHATTTT?**

**I KNOW you guys are out there and I WILL get the garden weasel (I had to use that SOMEWHERE in this chapter).**

**So please, take the time to review.**

**And now a word from our sponsor.**

***PLEASE REVIEW! IT MAGICALLY MAKES IDEAS IN MY HEAD!***

_**Other stuff to read:**_

**Allen's Choice**** (by me)**

**John 'Soap' Mactavish**** by Dunedain789**

**The Ghost that Haunted Me**** by ecto1B**

**First Dates With The 141**** by Brahston**

**And finally**

**Modern Warfare 2: The Tale of Roach**** by Erin Peepsta**

**BYEEEE!**

***Click Below * P.S. Anonomous Reviews are Welcome***

**V**


	5. Easy mission? Flawless Intel?

Day 4-5

When Things Go From Bad, To Life-Threatening

{Moderate violence and drug reference in the most harmless forms}

**[STANDBY]**

**{Input Password :}**

**[********]**

**{DENIED}**

**{Input Password :}**

**[********]**

**{DENIED}**

**{Input Password :}**

**[RUN PGRM: 567748910]**

**{Unlocking Systems :}**

**[SEARCH Cpl. Emily 'Gadget' Robins]**

**{DENIED}**

**[SEARCH Lt. Simon 'Ghost' Riley]**

**{SEARCHING- STANDBY}**

**{LOCATED}**

Gadget and I sit for a while, debating on how to further crack through the codes. We only get three percent closer when the others begin to wake up.

"All right, we need to get moving. We have a long ride ahead of us." Mactavish points out, gathering whatever gear he'd managed to grab before we'd had to run. "Gadget, how's the hacking?"

"It's nearly finished, sir." She closed up the laptop. "A few more bypasses and I'll be into Project Frost's main computer system."

"Good. Private Jackson, how's your leg holding up?"

"A little sore sir, but I'll be fine once we get moving." The private keeps most of his weight on his uninjured leg but I can tell he's still uncomfortable.

We load up the snowmobiles and get moving. Gadget reluctantly climbs onto the back of mine.

I look at her over the rims of my sunglasses. "I'm driving?"

"I'll either fall asleep or my arm will lock up. Just, don't go over a hundred and ten, okay?" She teased, beaming at me.

I roll my eyes and take the front seat. Her right arm loops around me but I notice that she left her other limp at her side, "Still sore?"

She nods silently and rests her forehead against my back, "And exhausted."

I chuckle quietly before starting the engine and taking off. The other four follow close behind, the Captain and Meat with their own and Archer driving for Jackson.

After thirty more minutes of silent driving I spot something up ahead. I can just barely see 16 small, fast moving black dots quickly getting closer and closer. I click my headseat on. "Mactavish, we got a problem."

"Talk to me Ghost."

"16 unidentified vehicles coming up fast from ahead. Might wanna check in for friendly squads in the area,"

"I did before we left. There's not supposed to be anyone or anything for miles. Keep an eye out and do not fire unless fired upon."

I watch as the far off specks become snowmobiles manned by men dressed like the rest of Project Frost.

"Great… It's almost 3 on 1." Gadget mutters, lifting her sidearm slightly. With her free arm she clings to me tightly. "Feel free to speed up if we need it."

I nod, slowing down a little so we fell into line with Mactavish. He glances over at us and Gadget momentarily lets go to give him a quick thumbs up. I smirk and give him a quick nod.

The half-smile melts from my face as the enemey closes in and I can hear the shouts and gunshots. A few bullets manage to hit the front of the snowmobile we were mounted on, but no serious damage was done to it. Gadget shoots several of the men from over my left shoulder, aiming from over my right.

We quickly blow past them. "Don't slow down, we have to outrun them!" Mactavish screams into his headset.

"Copy. Ghost, I'm turning around, don't stop." Gadet braces a hand on my back and turns around so we're back to back. I notice Pvt. Jackson doing the same on his snowmobile. "Okay, lemme know if we're gonna turn."

"Got it." I nod, focusing on driving as fast as I can. The snow is slicker and there are a lot of trees around. I try to take turns smoothly, letting Gadget know before I do so. "Sharp right." I shout over the wind as I swerve right around a wide evergreen.

Her arm snakes back and holds on to my torso as we make the turn. She lets go as soon as she gets the chance and yells. "See, that isn't so hard."

I'd laugh but the men from Project Frost managed to turn back around are catching up to us very quickly. I gun the throttle and try to shake them.

"Jackson is down! I repeat; Jackson is down!" Archer shouts over the radio. I can faintly hear Gadget curse as she reloads her sidearm. She's doing an impressive job with keeping the tangos away from us with only a PP2000.

Just as I'm about to point this out her gun clicks and Gadget says, "I'm out of ammo. Ghost, try to keep it straight while I get my UMP loaded."

"Copy. Mactavish, how are you three holding up?"

"We're cutting off to the west now. We have to lose these guys fast or we won't make it to the LZ."

"Understood." I grit my teeth. Easy mission? Flawless Intel? HAH. Why do things always turn out like this?

Gadget lifts her UMP and begins firing at the closest snowmobile. The driver falls off of it, dead, and it loses control. I barely have time to cut right and grab the back of Gadget's vest to keep her on before the thing starts flipping end over end and crashes into a pine tree. "We're getting to hot down here, sir." She yells into her radio. "We're not gonna make it!"

Just as the last word escapes her mouth another snowmobile pulls up next to us. She aims carefully and takes out the driver. "NO!" I shout as the now empty vehicle careens towards us.

Time shifts into slow motion as I turn and wrap both arms around Gadget and bail us both out of the seat. The two snowmobiles collide and explode as we hit the ground and roll several feet.

**{TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED}**

**{STANDBY}**

**{SIGNAL Lost}**

**[SEARCH Lt. Simon 'Ghost' Riley]**

**{UNIDENTIFIED}**

**[RUN PGRM. Heartbeat Tracer}**

**{PROGRAM ON LINE}**

**[LOCATE LT. Simon 'Ghost' Riley]**

**{FOUND}**

**{RUNNING SEARCH}**

I groan as I open my eyes. I can faintly see the sky above me. I notice that it's still early and we aren't supposed to leave until later in the day. My eyes flutter closed again. I can sleep for a few more minutes before we have to pack up and…OH GOD! I sit up quickly to look around, trying to figure out what was happening and where I was. I hiss in pain as I move a few pulled muscles and reopen a few cuts on my arms and torso.

"Easy laddy," Mactavish pushes me back down onto my back. "You might have a concussion. You hit your head pretty hard back there."

"H-how long was I out." I croak looking around. Meat and Archer are to my right, talking quietly. They look so worried and tense, jumping at the slightest sound.

"All night; you two crashed a ways back. It looks like might've Gadget re-mounted an enemy snowmobile and led the men away from your position." He sighs, running a gloved hand through his mow-hawk.

I look around again, ignoring the dull pain in my neck. "Where is she?"

Silence…

…

I swear loudly and force myself (painfully) into a sitting position. Immediately images flash through my head of three possibilities. The first is her sitting alone in the freezing cold with no supplies and no way of knowing where we are, just mere minutes from developing frost bite. The second was her laying face down in the snow, riddled with bullets, no pulse and no respiration…dead. And the third was her locked in a cell in the center of Project Frost's base, waiting for who knows what kind of treatment.

I struggle to my feet, using the handlebar of the closest snowmobile to keep my balance. My legs are shaking uncontrollably with pain. I must've sprained my ankle or something when we fell.

"Easy now," Mactavish gives me a concerened look. "We know she's alive, mate. I'm waiting on orders from the HQ but I'm sure we'll be able to—"

The main radio crackles to life and demands all of our attention. "Squad A-19 this is HQ, please respond."

"We copy you HQ," Mactavish answers, intent on hearing the orders.

"Continue to the LZ immediately."

The captain mirrors my frown. "We have one of our own captured and probably within the enemy base, shouldn't we—"

"The general gives specific instructions to get to the LZ ASAP. Do you copy?"

He hesitates, staring into the distance with a distracted expression. I shift uneasily. He wouldn't really let us leave her behind…would he? "Aye, we copy. We'll get going as soon as possible. Out," Mactavish clicks off his radio.

There's an uncomfortable pause as we all stand there looking at each other.

"Who's up for a Black Op?" Mactavish asks abruptly.

**{SWITCHING TARGETS}**

**[LOCATE Cprl. Emily 'Gadget' Robins]**

**{SEARCH COMPLETE}**

**{SWITCHING TO Cprl. Emily 'Gadget' Robins POV}**

I sit in the metal folding chair, eyeing the shadows before me. The room is dark at all the walls but a single, impossibly bright light above me keeps my vision at a minimum. I can barely make out the shapes of my captors.

"Who are you?" A voice demands in English, although the accent clearly identifies them as Brazilian.

"Mary Poppins." I spit out. Already they've hit and slapped and verbally abused me. So far it hasn't been so bad.

The light above me flicks out and someone slaps me, hard, across the cheek.

There are a few footsteps and the light comes back on, blinding me once again. I blink away the pain in my cheek as I fruitlessly try hard to free myself from the ropes that bind me to the chair.

Some first mission… I must seem so pathetic to the others. I wonder if they found Ghost…if it was all worth it. My computer would finish the bypasses pretty soon and then they'd be able to look through the files. Everything would pay off in the end.

"Who are you?" The voice demands again, shouting even more loudly than before.

"Jesus, _**someone**_needs a wider vocabulary. It's been the same question, again and again, since I first got here." I grumble feigning bravery and agitation. Just a little longer, I lie to myself. You can spring yourself out with no problem. No biggy. Deep down, I know I'm lying to myself, but that doesn't change that the thought comforts me a bit.

Finally a figure steps into the light. I barely have time to take in what the man looks like before he puts a foot on the seat of my chair and kicks it back so I tumble backwards. My head thuds dully on the concrete floor and I try hard not to black out, blinking furiously.

"You wanna play games? Fine then, we'll play games."

I yelp as a small electric shock travels through the chair and reaches my hands and legs, the only unprotected parts of me.

"You want new questions? Fine, here is the new question." A knife rests on my still stinging cheek, though I can't see the wielder. "What is your name?"

I swallow hard. Don't back down now. Don't let them scare you. Don't let yourself collapse. Stay strong, you'll be out soon. "Tinkerbelle," I say, my own voice betraying my fear.

The knife makes a shallow, but horribly painful cut.

"EMILY ROBINS!" I shout, biting back a blood curdling scream.

The knife leaves my face and my chair is set up straight. "See? That was not so difficult. Now, what were you doing here?"

I don't answer. I feel so ashamed of giving this man my name, so pathetic. I glare into his eyes, hate soaking my expression. We just sit there, glaring at one another for what seems like an eternity. I don't look away. I add more and more hate to my expression the longer we stare. The more hate I throw at him the angrier he becomes.

He sighs and makes a gesture with his hand. Another, more powerful, shock travels through the chair. I squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath my heart racing.

"Who were those men you were with?"

I keep silent, my eyes still shut.

"Put her in a cell. No food or water. Get her into the prison clothing."

I struggle as two massive brutes come out of the shadows and un-tie my legs first. After a quick hit to my stomach my muscles lock up and I sit still as the two larger men move to get my arms unbound. I form a quick, unruly plan. Putting the dumb idea to action and swinging my right leg as hard as I could I silently prayed they wouldn't kill me for this and I wouldn't crack my skull. The chair tilts backwards and my foot connects with the first man's mug. Then my back thuds to the ground and I fall unconscious for the third time that night.

**{ERROR}**

**[RUNNING Troubleshooting]**

**{RESTARTING PROGRAM}**

**{SIGNAL Rebooted}**

I wake up in a cell. A small, cramped, dark, cold, disgusting cell…and there are rats scurrying away from my feet.

I sigh and push myself into a sitting position against the wall. Burying my face in the palms of my hands I wonder what I've just gotten myself into. While the chances of Ghost's escape had gone from none to slim my own chances had gone from slim to none. Heh, my chances of _**survival **_had possibly gone from slim to none. My body suddenly releases a wave of pain and I realize how badly my fall had actually hurt. I groan and curl up in a ball.

Then I feel sick with disgust. I'm no longer in my Kevlar vest, jacket, my cameo pants, or my army boots. I am in a too large gray t-shirt, a pair of practically shredded khakis and thin tennis shoes with no soles. I suddenly feel the need to toss my cookies at the thought of them taking away my gear while I was still in it. I swallow it back and try to think about something else.

I remember the shallow cut on my face and reach up to feel the damage. "Guess they want me alive." I note to myself, as my fingers trace along a thin, but clean, bandage.

My mind immediately begins choosing ways I can get out in a hurry. There's my own cell and then a small room. There's a desk and a chair in the center of the floor and a little to the left there's a second chair and then the heavy steel door directly behind it. I calculated how fast I'd need to be going to ram through the door with the chair…I knew it was pointless but I knew my mind would go into panic mode if I didn't keep thinking of SOMETHING.

I examine the door more carefully. There are 12 locks…that'd take me about three hours to pick or break them all and then some since there was probably a computerized lock as well. My eyes absentmindedly trace along the edges of the door. It was vacuum sealed and probably air tight. I curse silently and try to think of another way out.

Wait…is that…a draft? I look around hopefully and find a small window just above my head. Maybe 5"by8" it's too small to get through but I peek out anyways. All I can see is the side of the mountain in the distance, a few evergreens, and snow, snow, snow, and HEY LOOK!...snow. Suddenly, I'm not so into the snow.

I grab onto the bars of my cell and pull myself onto my feet weakly. I'm so pathetic, standing here, shaking with pain and exhaustion and fear. I blink back tears as I try to imagine what they'd do to me next.

They were drug dealers for christssakes! They'd have all kinds of 'fun activities' to try and pry answers out of my mouth. I didn't know why, but I didn't feel safe telling them I was in the army. Maybe they'd sell Intel to terrorists or the Ultranationalists…or worse. Maybe they'd hand me over to them for a quick buck. I tried not to picture being in the hands of Makarov or someone like him.

I shook away the fearful thoughts and tried to think about something else. I started writing a letter to Alex about my first mission on a new team. I'd change and edit the story a lot. I'll make it so I was safe the whole time. And I'll change the location. We'd be helping a small family in Peru collect an airdrop that was to far away from the village. That's it. There would be two older boys and their father. I'd make up some long intricate story about how they were raised and then their mother would be some impressively smart lady. And _**that**_ would be my first mission according to Alex.

Not me being captured and tortured by drug dealer's after drawing fire away from one of my team-mates in the middle of some frozen wasteland.

The door's locks began to turn and my muscles tightened up automatically in fear. It swung open, revealing a rather young, scrawny Caucasian man. His eyes scanned over me nervously and he sat down at the desk. I examined his face and immediately knew he was just hired help. Just another pawn in a world where they were tossed away everyday…kind of like me. Don't get me wrong now; I'm not saying the others were throwing me away. Even if they've left me here forever I don't blame them. Mactavish will want to come get me, but the HQ will refuse. One Corporal in a drug-ring's base was no major problem.

I knew from the start that in the big picture I would just be an expendable.

I let my face rest against the cool bars, glaring out at the nervous guard. He's clearly trying to ignore my presence. After about ten minutes of mindless back and forth in my own mind I speak up. "I could use some water."

He looks up at me, startled that I spoke to him. Then he quickly regains his composure. "Look, lady, you don't get anything here. Just go back to moping." Then, as an after thought, he adds. "You'll have plenty of time to do so since you'll be here for the rest of your life."

An American. I scowl at him. I don't want to admit it to myself but the words hurt me a little more than I show for it. I'm going to be stuck here, probably tortured and verbally abused, for the rest of my life. I pull myself over to the window to watch the snow fall. Though the window has no pane there are thick bars crossing in front of it. Typical. They'll let me freeze but they're too nervous to leave it completely open, even though my shoulders wouldn't even fit through.

My forehead thunks down against the small opening and I feel the exhaustion begin to take over. I'm afraid to fall asleep but since I didn't get any rest the previous night I'm just so tired.

My eyes get heavy and I let myself slide down the wall and come to a rest in the corner. I ward off sleep as long as I can, the outside world becoming darker. Finally, when I just can't take it anymore, I drift off into a heavy, dreamless existence.

**[Switch Targets]**

**{FINDING Lt. Simon 'Ghost' Riley}**

**{LOCATED}**

**[SWITCHING TO Lt. Simon 'Ghost' Riley's POV]**

"Found it!" Archer suddenly yells out. "She ditched the ammo bag...Looks like she tore off her patches and left her dog-tags too."

"Aye, we found her sidearm about 50 meters west of your position." There was a quiet clicking noise. "It's empty. About ten dead bodies are around here and there are signs of a struggle. It's hard to tell from all the fresh snow."

"Her UMP is empty too. It's sitting near the ammo bag. She must've taken one last stand before they caught her. Anyone lock down on the transmission yet?" Meat asks from where he is.

We've spread out. Meat and Archer went off to where they found me and did an area search to see if they could find any sign of Gadget's where-abouts. Sure enough, she'd turned the distress signal on her radio before driving off. Mactavish had followed what was left of the trail we'd left behind and found a crashed snowmobile and several bodies.

I've stayed behind to try and finish tapping into Project Frost's computer. Frankly, I'm surprised that Gadget got so far. She must have an amazing memory or an impressive ability for guessing codes. I've run every bypass and sent every virus I knew off hand, but I was barely making any headway.

"I'm working on it. You guys should head back here, it's getting dark." I mutter, typing more codes in.

"Right," Mactavish agrees. "Archer, you and Meat wait for me, and then we'll all head back to camp together. I don't like being split up when we're on enemy territory."

"Too right," Archer says.

Meat sighs, "Even when we haven't had too much of a problem since they caught Gadget."

"Must've gotten busy," I say sarcastically. The laptop suddenly makes a whirring sound and the firewall disappears to reveal the whole mainframe of Project Frost. "I'm in. I'm going to see if I can get any camera feed or Intel on where she is."

"Good. Stay frosty, we're almost done."

It's been an hour and I've managed to patch into the security systems. Mactavish is leaning over my shoulder watching the screen intently. "You're sure this is her cell?"

"As sure as we can be," The cell is empty and we can't find Gadget on any of the other screens. "Then again, they might've—"

Just as I start second guessing myself, two guards drag Gadget in. Her face is bruised and her bottom lip seems to be bleeding. She's struggling against them as best she can, but they toss her into the barred area of the room and lock the door. Then they just leave her there.

"That's her." I mutter bitterly.

"You think you can get us a map."

"Absolutely…The problem is how we're gonna get in without being noticed."

"That won't be a problem at all." Archer pipes in. "All you need to do is apply for a job."

Why don't like where this is going?

**{PAUSING TRANSMISSION}**

**[Lock-down system]**

**[Shut down]**

**There you go! =D**

**And the plot takes off! YAYYY! **

**Okay, so the reason for shortness…I start classes tomorrow and I might only have an hour or so to write and I couldn't stand leaving you much longer without a chapter. Soooooo, it's EARLY!**

**Yep, I'm locked up after my first mission. It kinda sucks but the guys have a plan! (And I do too ;D)**

_**Other stuff to read:**_

**Allen's Choice ****by me**

**The Reason's Why ****by duvalia**

**AND**

**The Ghost that Haunted Me**** by ecto1B**


	6. Out

Day 7-8

Claustrophobia and a 'Self-Rescue' Mission

{Moderate violence, including vague, incomplete descriptions of torture (whipped, beaten, drugged, etc.) Nothing explicit}

**(Reboot All Systems)**

**{SYSTEM REBOOTING}**

**[SEARCH Emily 'Gadet' Robins]**

**{LOCATED}**

**{WARNING: SYSTEMS BREACH!}**

**{}**

**{}**

**{SYSTEMS IN OVERRIDE}**

**{SYSTEMS BREACH DETECTED}**

I open my eyes, trying to ignore the dull pain in my left arm. "I still haven't gotten anything to drink."

"Shut up," A harsh voice was telling me. I obey, not in the mood for another clubbing.

"Tell us who you work for…NOW!"

My legs are shaking with pain and exhaustion. My arms ache with pulled muscles and bruises and locked elbows. I stare down at my feet, which are hanging a few inches from the ground. I will not answer to these monsters. A rough hand grabs my arm and shakes me rudely. I try to pull away but I'm too weak and tired to focus enough strength to get away.

"Things will only get worse from here, pathetic little girl. Just tell us what you know and we'll let you go back to your friends."

I try not to shake as I yell, "I'll never tell you anything. You can all—"

A fist came out of nowhere and socked me in the nose. I muffle a little cry of pain. The ropes that are holding my arm above my head seem to be pulling harder and harder. I hang on tighter, trying to keep from dislocating my shoulders, but already my feet are about half a foot off the ground…and I can't hold on forever.

"Aren't you tiring of this yet? Do you WANT to be alone here for the rest of your life? Don't you miss your friends?"

I ward off the words and look away from the man who is saying them. Nothing has hurt more than the verbal abuse they've given me here. "I…I will never tell you…anything…" I feel myself losing grip on the ropes. If my fingers slip, all of my weight will yank down on one wrist. That will hurt worse than three more hours of hanging here.

"Maybe not right now," I heard the smile in his voice. "But with the right…persuasion."

I lift my head to look at him, ignoring the aching muscles and sore joints. "W-What do you mean?" I ask. Jeez I'm thirsty. No water for two days along with torture is probably the most dehydrating thing ever…my voice is proof. It cracks and comes out in hoarse whispers. Yelling probably doesn't help either.

"I am sure you will find that out. Meanwhile, you can just stay here for a while. I will be back in an hour or so." He says casually, heading for the door. "I hope you do not mind waiting up for me."

I growl in frustration as he leaves. The moment the door closes behind him I feel my emotional walls breaking down. Years and years of careful focus and emotional protection crashing around me; this is probably more painful than all of the torture and fear. Tears of sorrow slide freely down my cheeks and anger rushes through me with no rhyme or reason. God, I'm in so much pain. Shifting my weight slightly, I try to lower myself to the floor.

No good. The tears are becoming sobs quickly. I ignore my own sadness and fear, trying to bring back the walls. I groan, looking up to my hands, tears slightly blurring my vision. One wrist is tied to a thick rope and the other is free, its accompanying hand trying desperately to take some of the weight off. I notice, with a twinge of disgust, that my tied hand is turning a purplish color.

"Well…" I mutter, pulling myself up with one last bit of strength. "At least this is more interesting than getting shot at."

Using my teeth, I work on undoing the knots. I take a break, observing my handiwork. "Halfway there." I mumble, letting my muscles contract again and I pull myself up one last time.

I feel the rope relinquishing its hold and with one last jerk of my head I manage to undo the knot… and fall to the floor with a hard thud. Panting with exhaustion and the sudden increase in pain I close my eyes. Groaning, I roll onto my back and steady my breathing. I gently rub the rope marks on my wrists and think about something other than what could come next.

The first thing that pops into my head is my team.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that they are all I seem to think of when I get a moment away from my captors. In only a short time they became a part of my family. That hasn't ever happened to me before. Alex has been around my whole life and he and I still fight sometimes. In school I always had to put in a little extra effort to get friends, being the shy and silent 'Sally-Sob-Story. There weren't many kids in Florida year-round and those who were all knew about my parents. I never had anyone become as close as family until I joined the army. I had built walls for that.

In the Rangers I had friends. Close friends. The only issue was keeping them. People transferred, re-assigned, went MIA…and died. I lost several very close friends back there. I had built walls for that.

Henry and I didn't start off as friends. He was a rank above me and didn't like the idea of having me around; He thought it would slow them down. It took me tireless weeks of training to prove I was even a good soldier and months before he and I really started to talk. We formed a loose bond and started teaming up on recon missions and even ambushes. After a while family life came up, our hopes and dreams became a part of daily discussion, plans for after the war were chatted about, and eventually he became my best friend. Now I won't ever see him again. I had built walls for that.

My new team mates are a different story. Upon meeting him, Royce and I were auto-matic friends. Joking around and goofing off with Toad and Worm was just natural. Scarecrow accepted me and gave me pointers. Meat and I teased eachother in a brother-sister like manner. Archer and I played cards and talked like we were old, highschool buddies. Mactavish was probably the best CO I could ever have. Ghost had already managed to level with me and get me to talk about things that I always avoided; and I did the same for him. I built more walls.

All in one day they'd allowed me into their lives and accepted me. Half of them didn't know about my past and the other half didn't seem to treat me differently. I love my new life in the 141…I'm just so scared that I have to leave it so soon. And with the fear came the destruction.

There I go again. This is stupid. I need to get back to planning, not moping around pathetically. These thoughts will be the death of me. I'm not some emo-high schooler with minor problems. I will not sit here and be useless…or pathetic.

I sit up, wipe my eyes furiously, and ignore the throbbing pain coming from all over. I look around the room and spot the door. Dragging myself over to it, I examine the locks. Too many to pick within the small span of time I have. I can hear voices on the other side, speaking some deep African language I can't quite identify.

I back away slowly and look up to the rope. If I cut through it I could sneak up on the men who come to collect me and choke them out. No, that won't work…they have guns and travel with at least two men in a group. AND I have nothing to cut with.

Maybe I could wait next to the door and slip out the first chance I get. I could run and find somewhere to hide…but there are cameras and gaurds everywhere.

Or maybe…

If I could just…

There's a chance that…

About half an hour goes by and more futile plans run through my already foggy mind.

Now I'm losing hope. No plan, no weapon, no way out. I sigh and draw my knees up to my chest and rest my head there. I'm starving. I haven't had anything to eat or drink in two days…_**AND **_we didn't have breakfast the morning I was captured.

The door opens and I immediately become rigid. Four sets of footsteps tell tale of four guards. Nervously I open one eye and look up to see a three, depressingly familiar faces.

One is of the man I'd seen for every torture episode since I've arrived here (I assume he's the leader). He has a particularly large bruise on his cheek and forehead that look suspiciously familiar to my foot. The one of the others was the scrawny guard that had been watching over me for my visit. He looks unhappy to be here. The third was my 'doctor' who'd been making sure I lived through the unpleasant experiences here. He hated me more than anything since I dragged him away from his free-time.

The fourth face practically made my heart explode with joy. While my eyes only lingered on him for a moment I know him immediately. The pair of orange tinted sunglasses, the black balaclava, the smiling skull pattern, the gloved hands, the clothing all our soldiers wore under snowgear, the black combat boots, all of it was gone… but he wasn't. He stood there, in a black uniform like the others, no mask, no glasses, just his face. Ghost was in front of me, standing behind the other three men, his eyebrow raised in the same fashion it always was when he let any type of emotion by. Relief floods through me as I hold the picture in my mind, not letting my eyes rest on him.

I glare angrily at all of them, my eyes lingering on the leader.

"Well," He grins maliciously down at me. "What have we got here? You have escaped from the little game, huh?" The smile widens. "I thought you liked games, Emily."

"I—" My voice croaks and I clear my throat weakly. "I don't suppose you happen to know how to play Five-Card-Stud, do you?"

The smile drops to a frown. "What is wrong with this one?" He asks. Bending down and taking hold of my arm he pulls me closer. "You do not like the rules?"

I shrug off his hand and scramble backwards, reeling into the wall.

"You do not play by the rules we do. There are consequences when you break the rules, dear."

"I don't give a rat's rear about your rules." I state hoarsly, my voice cracking weakly and I feel even more pathetic, suddenly wishing I couldn't see Ghost's face.

"Doctor, I believe our guest is in need of refreshment. You brought her a drink, yes?"

"Aye," The doctor nods, stepping forward, a clear cup in his hand.

I sidle along the wall, trying to stay away from them. Ghost's eyes flash a bit with worry and fear as the other two draw closer to me. I let the corner of my mouth twitch a little bit, trying to signal him. He gets the message and, ever so slightly, nods.

While I'm distracted someone grabs my arms and pulls my head back by my hair. I gasp in surprise and feel the edge of the cup come to my lips. Some luke-warm liquid pours in and I know it isn't water. Coughing weakly I try to spit it back up. At my success more liquid is poured in, my head tilted back further. The liquid runs down my throat involuntarily and I start to sputter weakly.

'_**Oh god…oh god no…'**_

The strong arms let go and I weakly fall to the floor. I cough and dry heave, trying desperately to eradicate the liquid from my system. Between coughs I cuss the three men out and repeatedly mutter "Oh God"s and "Sweet Jesus"s.

"Get her back to her cell."

I hear some footsteps and a pair of hands violently drag me to my feet. I fight them weakly, still spluttering and struggling.

I know I'm being led down the hallway, and once the other men are out of ear-shot a bitter-sweetly familiar voice whispers. "I'm so sorry Gadget. I tried to get here sooner."

"G-Ghost…is th-that you?" I cough out, trying to focus on him. Whatever they gave me, it's working. I can't see anything clearly, my depth perception suddenly going haywire. "Y-you came back…fo-r-r me?"

"Aye…" His hold became gentler, less pushy and more supportive. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful…" I mutter honestly, trying to ignore the swimming colors of the world around me. "What…Wa-as that?" I know my speech is slurred. I can't focus on moving my mouth. "I feel like I'm trippin—"

"I'd laugh but this isn't particularly funny." Ghost opens a door with his shoulder, still supporting my weight with both his arms. "It won't kill you, if that's what you're wondering. But the next few hours aren't going to be very pleasant if we don't get you out of here."

"HQ told-ld you not to come back for me…" I state, leaning my face into his chest. I feel helpless. I can't even tell up from down anymore. "Why-y are you here?"

"We're not gonna leave you behind just because HQ wants us home before dinner."

"Where are w-e-e going?"

"Out." He answers simply. "You'll regain control of yourself in about twelve minutes. After that we have 2 hours to get home before things get bad."

"Wha-at?" I try to frown but my eyebrows don't respond. "How do you know-w?"

"Just stop talking, you'll feel better soon."

I nod lazily, still unable to see him, and say. "You guys-s are the best friends I've ever had..."

"Hush now Gadget, we'll be home soon."

I smile weakly and let him half-drag me along. I don't really care how we're going to get out.

_They came back for me._

This revelation is so amazing I almost break down again. They were home-free. They had direct orders to leave me.

_**They came back for me**__._

**{SWITCHING TARGETS}**

**[GHOST'S POV Loading]**

**(RUNNING PGRM.)**

I hold on to Gadget, trying to stay out of sight and keep her steady. I had tried to get to her before they managed to do this, but I guess I was to late. The drug wasn't lethal, but I'd seen the effects of it and it didn't sound pleasant.

I don't think there's a spot on her that isn't bruised. These guys don't beat around the bush when it comes to getting answers, that's for certain. Her ribcage shakes a little with a sob and I look down at her.

Gadget's eyes are closed and she's resting her head against me, barely able to hold it up. Her face has blood and dirt and bruises all over it. Tears are starting to flow down her face. "What's wrong? Are you badly injured?"

"N-no…You guys-s came ba-ck for me." She doesn't open her eyes. I smirk a little and drag her towards a nearby room, locking the door behind us. I help her to a chair and sit her down. She slumps over and mutters, "And I feel-eel like I'm about to fall off the edge of the world."

I pull my satellite phone out. "Mactavish, I've got her. I'll meet you outside in about half-an-hour. Get Archer set up for sniper support."

"Ple-ease." Gadget adds from across the room. "Don't forge-et pluh-ease." She grins.

I'm amazed, honestly. She's been here for two days, by the looks of it she's been tortured and yet she's smiling. And she's cracking jokes when she can't even tell where I am for all the toxins in her system. "Gadget says please."

"Good to hear she's all right. Just get out _**alive**_, Ghost. We can't fail now." Mactavish's voice doesn't reveal much emotion, but I can tell he's stressed. We ARE on a black op after all. Not to mention the nasty side effects Gadget will be expieriencing in…I glance at my GPS watch…Forty five minutes. I pull on my balaclava and sunglasses, ready to get us out of here.

I look around the room and grab a bottle of water off the shelf. It hasn't been opened and it's clean. "I got you some water Gadget."

She lifts her head to look at me. "Th-hanks. I haven't had anything to dr-rink-nk in two days!"

Reaching out a shaking hand she tries futiley to take the bottle from me. Growling in frustration, she tries again…this time closes her hand around the bottle but can't seem to get it from my grasp.

"WHAT do they have me o-on-n?" She slurs with her fingers scrabbling at the plastic container. "My fingers don't-n't even work-r-rk!"

"Here," I offer, opening the bottle and holding it to her lips. "Drink up."

"I don't n-e-need bottle fed, I can do it—"

"The last thing we need is for you to be soaking wet in this weather. Drink it."

Grumbling she takes a swallow. "This is r-ridiculous." She mutters, before slowly downing the rest the water.

I ruffle her hair and toss the empty bottle aside. "Are you feeling any better?"

"A little. I can see straight now." She smiles. "And I can ta-alk without my throat blee-eedin-ng," The smile drops to a frown. "I sound like a re-ee-tard-d don't I?"

"You sound like a soldier who's been abused and drugged." I assure her, looking out the crack in the doorframe. No panic yet, the workers are still oblivious to her escape.

I hear some shuffling and I turn to see Gadget, standing shakily. "You gotta gun?"

I nod, holding out her Glock 18. "I brought this for you."

She accepts the gun with little hesitation. "What's the p-l-lan?"

"No plan. Just winging it." I say nervously. Getting in was one thing. Getting out with an escaped prisoner is another.

"I actually have an idea." She smiles. "Do you trust me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Gadget shakes her head. "Stay close."

We go un-noticed for the first twenty or so minutes, since the back hallways are mostly abandoned. At first I have to help Gadget walk but she slowly gets used to it, standing on her own. We remain silent, just the sound of my boots on the floor and the soft padding of her own thin shoes.

"If we turn left up here there's where they keep the drinks and stuff. We don't want to be followed."

I raise my eyebrows and give her a look. "Drinks?"

"We aren't getting out without a few mollies." She simply says, pushing a door on the right open. Two men are inside and they look up curiously.

"What are you doing 'ere? This is off limits to—"

Gadget cuts him short with the help of her Glock. Her aim is off and her arm is still shaky but she takes them down.

Grabbing a bottle off of the nearby counter she reads the label and undoes the cap. Then Gadget uses my knife to cut of a small portion of her shirt and lays it on the counter. She takes a quick swig of the drink and douses the rag in one fluid motion.

"Let's move."

We take off in a jog. Only a little more hallway left and we're out of here. Then there are shouts and gunshots. "KEEP GOING!" Gadget yells, stopping for a moment and stuffs the rag into the bottle. Then, using the lighter I gave her, she lights it up and throws it behind her. The room is engulfed in flames and we both run faster.

"There's the door! Archer, launch the bypass!" I yell, shooting ahead of us at the group of guards waiting.

"Got it; once the door opens, you two get to the vehicle, we're here for support. It's getting hot so make it quick."

"Copy; Gadget, let's GO!"

"Right," She nods, staying right next to me.

We run full speed towards the exit, meeting up with minimal resistance. All of the guards seem oddly confused. What's going on here?

"Something's not right." I mutter, freezing in my tracks.

Gadget skids to a stop. "What is it?"

I look around hesitantly. "Where is everyone?"

"Who? Our team is outside."

"I mean the gaurds…where are they?" I glance around again, looking for any sign of a trap. "When I came in there were so many..."

"Let's just go. There's no time to question." She pulls on my arm, still staggering slightly. "I don't want to take any longer to get out of here."

I follow closely behind her, feeling increasingly paranoid.

******20 minutes later******

We all collapse on the floor of the Pave Low that had been waiting for us. Meat pants, "Holy cuss..." I had been right, the whole base had assembled outside for an ambush. It had taken us nearly all of our ammo to get through.

We all chuckle weakly, too tired to talk. Gadget sighs. "I'm so…sorry. You shouldn't have come back for me, I—"

"Don't be silly Gadge; we can't lose you on your first mission." Archer grins lopsidedly. "There's still too much fun left for that."

"But…HQ is gonna be SOOOOO mad." She laughs. "I don't want to be around when Shepard gets wind of this."

"That doesn't matter." Mactavish lays a hand on her shoulder. "You're back now."

Gadget smiles widely. "Thank you, sir." Then she looks over at me. "Is there anything we can do about—"

"I almost forgot!" Archer sits down next to her and extracts a needle from a bag. "This should help."

As Archer and Meat care for Gadget, Mactavish pulls me aside. "How bad does she seem?"

"They beat her up pretty badly, so she probably has some cracked or bruised ribs. Also dehydrated and starved." I pause, thinking. "Also on the fight out she got a pretty nasty hit to the throat in hand-to-hand with one of the leaders. I'm gonna guess her vocals are gonna be shot for a long time."

"Good work, Ghost. You two even burned the place to the ground on the way out." He claps a hand to my shoulder. "Get some rest. Shepherd wants to see us first thing when we get back."

"Can't wait," I sigh, sitting down on one of the seats.

I get to thinking. We were lucky. If I had been there ten, maybe twenty minutes later there would've been an even slimer chance Gadget would live. I look over to where she's sitting with Archer and Meat, puching Meat lightly in the shoulder for calling her woman again. I reach up and press a hand against the notebook in my vest; A favor in exchange for a favor, right? She saves this for me, I save her life. We're square.

Fifeteen minutes later exhaustion sets in for us all. Gadget takes the seat next to me, Archer and Meat across from us, and Mactavish sitting in the back half of the 'U' Shaped seats.

Everyone else has already fallen asleep but Gadget and I sit and talk for a while.

"Thank you." She smiles up at me.

"Don't mention it. After all, I owed you one."

She laughs, then rubs the front of her neck, wincing. "I guess I won't ever sound quite the same ever again, huh?" Gadget's voice is slightly softer, scratching a bit when her tone changes between syllables.

"With luck you'll be better in no time. How's your arm?" I ask, leaning back against the helicopters wall.

"Fantastic." She sighs. "I can hardly move it it's so sore. You know they hung me from it for 8 hours?" She hold up her wrist, showing me the rope marks. "I mean really, of all the dumb luck they hang me from the arm I got shot in!"

I chuckle at her tone. "At least you still have the arm."

Gadget grins again. "Well, good night, Simon."

"Good night, Emily." I close my eyes before saying. "We've got a long day ahead of us."

**{TERMINATING Connection}**

**[SHUTTING DOWN]**

**(RUN PGRM. A/N 129937590283874)**

**All riiiiiiiight!**

**So I re-did this chapter several times before posting it. Originally I had the effects of the drug much worse and a little darker than how it ends here, but I decided that was above a 'T' rating. Therefore I did this instead.**

**The next chapter is the recovery and probably the last one. DO NOT PANIC! I will have more stories with Gadget and the guys along with a lot of one-shots and maybe some L4D2 oneshots thrown in there for the fun of it. Anyone have ideas or requests for one-shot/two-shots? Send 'em in via review (Anonomous reviews welcome) and I'll see what I can do.**

**YES, there will be some Ghost/Gadget ones. Nothing above 'T' for the time being though. I got so many kind reviews on Gadget that I kinda want to remind you guys that she IS me, but I haven't gone through much of the same kinda thing. Except for getting my voice whacked up :/.**

**OKAY! Reviews are loved and read dearly as always. I don't have any more stories to suggest other than the same ones I always do. **

**Bye-bye for now!**

**((On my mind today; 9/11…I remember that day clearly :'[ ))**


	7. A Favor in Exchange for a Favor

Day 9

A Quick Recovery

**{RUNNING PGRM.}**

**[LAUNCHING SEARCH]**

**(LOCATED)**

**{AUTHOR POV}**

"NO." Gadget repeats, crossing her arm over her chest (and yes, I mean singular), "No way, uh-uh, not for the entire world."

"You're being unreasonable, Gadge." Archer chuckles from his spot on the end of her infirmary cot. "You can't expect to recover in two hours."

"I'm not staying here." She pouts. "It smells like antiseptic."

"It's not for a month or anything," Ghost asures her from his perch on the counter, "It's just for 48 hours."

"UGH!" She throws her right arm in the air. "Strapped to IV's and having my left arm immobilized for two days doesn't sound any more enjoyable than 48 hours in that drug base."

"Now you're just exagerating, woman." Meat rolls his eyes, leaning against the infirmary room wall.

"Still." She glares at him. "Doesn't make me_** want**_ to be here any longer."

"Doesn't change the fact that you have to." He grinned evilly. "Plus we're gonna have so much fun in the next 48 hours."

"I _**will **_injure you." She growls.

"Come off it you two," Archer laughs again, fully entertained by his two friends bickering. "We're just lucky we all got back."

The door bursts open and the rest of the squad enter. Royce takes one look at Gadget and his eyes widen, "Jesus I thought you three were joking."

"Unfortunately not." Ghost shrugs.

Scarecrow raised his eyebrows, examining Gadget's bruised face. "You all right FNG? They got you good."

"Don't remind me." She glances at the four men. "Where's 'Tavish."

"Still gettin' chewed out by Shep. He's sooooooooo ticked off right now." Worm scoffs joining Ghost near the counter.

"AND then he has to write up a report." Toad adds. "How long are you stuck here?"

"48 hours."

"Ooooooo, tough break."

"Not laughing."

"I am."

"Shut up Meat."

"I'll shut up when I'm dead, woman!"

"Again it can be arranged."

"As if you could kill me, you smurf."

"Toad would help me."

"Uh-uh, I'm staying outta this. Make Worm do it, he's slimy enough."

"I resent that!"

"You guys are all idiots."

"Watch yourself straw-boy."

"How 'bout you Mr. Meaty?"

"What did you just call me?"

"You heard me!"

Gadget watched the boys launch a full out argument, laughing inwardly. To think that not even 20 hours ago she'd been afraid that she'd never see them again. Now she was watching them tease and playfully-demean eachother. They were all fine. All the same people. She was fine too. Still the same…mostly.

The door banged open again, revealing one particularly annoyed medic. "All right, everyone out."

"Come-on, we're just here to visit." Worm argues.

"Out." The doctor points at the door.

After some argument, six of seven men filed out, leaving Gadget, Ghost, and the doctor. "Sorry about that Doc." Ghost's mask gets a little smile crease. "They've all been worried about her."

"Yeah, yeah. They're just lucky I don't ban them from the infirmary." He comes to Gadget's bed-side and looks over the cuts and bruises. "Good news; you don't have a concussion and you're arm should make a full recovery sooner than we thought."

"Bad news?"

"You still have to stay here for 48 hours."

"UGH!"

Both men had a little chuckle at the irked patient. "Thanks, Doc."

"Don't mention it. Just call if you need anything."

Then the doctor takes his leave.

Ghost spends his afternoon trying to cheer Gadget up. She'd never been one to sit still and after being locked up she really just wanted to go for a run or work out or something. They talk about all sorts of things and she teaches him how to play cards. Somehow the conversation shifts from light joking to life before the army.

"So, what did you want to do before you decided on the Rangers?"

"I also considered the Navy."Gadget laughed, picking up another card.

"I'm trying to be serious here."

She smiles and plucks the sunglasses off of his face, sliding them over her own eyes. He makes no move to retrieve them. "Well, if I answer you a question you have to answer me one."

"I guess." He shrugs, pulling a card for himself.

"I was going to be an actress."

"Really? Now I'm interested."

She knocks him over the head lightly. "Yeah. I took all kinds of classes and I was in the Drama Club and everything."

"Sounds nerdy."

"Now I get a question."

"All right."

She looks into his watery blues. "What's with the mask?"

He stiffened a bit, thinking hard. "Pass."

"No fair!"

"Yes fair."

She sticks her tounge out at him playfully. "I could make you go away you know."

"But you won't."

She pouts for a moment. "No, I won't…but I could if I wanted to."

"Sure, sure." He chuckles, picking up another card. "And I could teach a pig to ride a motor-bike…if I wanted to."

"Exactly." The two share a laugh.

The door slides open and Captain Mactavish enters. "Your turn, Ghost."

"Oh joy," He sighs, dropping his cards. "See you tomorrow morning Gadget. TRY not to bother your doctors too much."

"Yeah, yeah." She grins. "G'night."

Once the Lietenant leaves Mactavish takes his place in a folding chair. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts and my arm is locking up, but I've seen worse." Gadget shrugs, examining Ghost's dicarded cards. "Hah! What are the odds?"

"What is it?"

Gadget points at the two hands. They matched. Ghost had a pair of aces and a pair of queens, his fifth card a five. Gadget did too, only the suites were different. "Really, what are the odds of that happening to anyone?"

Mactavish flashed a rare full-on smile. "I haven't ever seen it."

There was a pause as Gadget slowly gathered the cards, using only her right hand. "I never got to thank you."

"Don't worry about it."

"Everyone keeps saying that…" She sighs, putting the deck into its box. "But…I don't know how long it would've been until I cracked. I'd only been in there two days and look what they did. I can't imagine two weeks or two months!" She looks at her captain, sincerity clear in her eyes. "Thank you…for everything."

"It's what we do for eachother in the one-four-one. Orders or no orders."

"Best rule I've ever heard of."

**(12 hours later)**

"Hey, Gadget, I…" Ghost starts, pushing open the door to Gadget's infirmary room. The bed was empty and made neatly, the IV's put away, and her new gear was no longer hanging in the wide open closet. "Oh cripes…"

Jogging through the halls towards the rec room Ghost ran into Meat. "Have you seen Gadget?"

"Not since we visited her yesterday." Meat scratches his head. "Isn't she like prohibited from leaving the infirmary?"

"Yeah, but I was just there and she wasn't."

Little did either of the men know, but Gadget was perfectly fine and happy. She'd sprung herself from the infirmary and was now on the treadmill in the weight room. Keeping an even 6.5 mph she listens to the thudding music on her iPod. Her throat hurts a little and her endurance is low from the injuries, but it isn't anything she wasn't used to.

She'd promised her doctor she'd take it slow. Just a walk. Just walking. Then, it felt so good to move, she picked up the pace. Just a little. Then she went faster. And faster. Until she went from a brisk walk to a jog. It feels so good to be able to be able to move again, it's almost like she'd found freedom. 48 hours, HAH! She'd gotten out of there in a fraction of that time and felt just fine.

That is until the treadmill lurched to a stop and she practically ran into the display board on the front of the machine. Gadget looks over to see Ghost standing there, his finger hovering just above the 'Emergency Stop' button. His eyebrow was raised, speaking volumes about his own confusion. She mimics his look, pulling one earbud out of her ear. "What's your big idea?"

"What's _**your **_big idea?" He counters clearly amused. "Talk about an early recovery. Running with several fractured ribs and a sling?"

"You bet. What's with trying to give me a heart attack?"

"When am I _**not **_trying to give you a heart attack?" He chuckled at her angered expression. "It's too fun to make you mad to stop."

Gadget's frown falls into a smile, "I guess so. But yeah, I'm doing just fine." She swings her arm up and stretches, as if to prove her point.

He pretends not to notice her wince. "Good to hear. Does Mactavish know you've escaped?"

"Yeah…" She avoided eye contact.

"Really…" Ghost pauses, grinning evilly. "So if I went and talked to him he'd have no problem with you running."

"No, Ghost, Don't—"

And he's off, tearing through the base corridors. Gadget takes off after him, trying her hardest to keep up.

Yeah. This definitely beats dodging bullets, even if it is a lot tougher.

_**FIN**_

**Yerp. That's where it ends. I will now have a quick series of one-shots, introducing Alex and Roach, along with changes with Gadget personally. Then I'll get to the MW2 outline.**

**Special thanks to: Jacob0392, ita-chan01, Erin Peepsta, SuddenSummerStorm, Josh-aka- The Rookie, Fenlon, ecto 1B, kuyoki1789, and AwesomeBlonde89 for their signed reviews.**

**Another special thanks to the anonomous reviewers and PM's from everyone full of encouragement :D**

**Also, thank you to my younger brother for watching me beat certain levels over and over, encouraging me each time. You're awesome kid and I promise your character comes in ASAP.**

**Gadget was based on yours truly, Hawkings and Paul Jackson were loosly influenced by friends of mine, and the plot came from my diseased imagination.**

**I do not own MW2 or and COD game…or any game…or movie…dangit…**

**Before I forget, I am officially a nerd. I finally did it. I bought the Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack. Jesus Hans Zimmer will be the death of me! x]**

**Please review! I need ideas and suggestions and (if possible) more reviews. Honestly, it's what makes me write. I write to become better and to do so I need feed-back. This means good and bad. Please, if you have something to say, say it. I don't care if you all out HATE my style and you want nothing to do with it, tell me why. I can't fix it if I don't know it's broken.**

**My next project could very possibly be a Ghost/Gadget. ;D I can't help it.**

**If not, it's gonna be something funny and a little pointless to pass the time until I have a long enough span of free-time to write the MW2 plot. **

**Bear with me. I have never touched a controller for MW1…so sorry if I screw somethin' up.**

_**REVIEW!**_

_**PLEASE!**_

_**PLEASE!**_

_**PLEASE!**_

_**400 Views since the beginning of this month…**_

_**I know you people are out there .**_

_**CLICK DOWN **_

_**HERE**_

_**.**_

_**Yes I took the time to make it an arrow.**_


End file.
